Second Chance
by El Jord
Summary: After his death, Darth Caedus was prepared to accept whatever punishment the Force had in store for him. However, circumstances have given him the one thing he never expected: a second chance.
1. Prologue

**Second Chance**

**Prologue: The Offer**

The afterlife was not what he had expected.

Darth Caedus, and _that_ was his name not Jacen Solo, stared out at the empty gray expanse. He wasn't exactly sure what he had been expecting, but this was most definitely not it. After his actions the past few years he would expect something along the lines of torture. There was a lot of blood on his hands, he knew, and he doubted that his past actions as a "hero" would balance them out. No, he was definitely going to be punished in some way.

Honestly though, he expected something a little more painful than eternal boredom.

"Bored? We can't have that, can we?"

Caedus jumped out of his skin at the sudden intrusion. He whirled around to face the source, only to find himself freezing again.

Recognition dawned, accompanied by a rush of feelings. Shock, guilt, and resignation welled up within him.

"Anakin?" His voice cracked.

Anakin Solo nodded. Caedus stared at his long-dead brother, drinking in his image. Anakin looked exactly the same, from his dark and messy hair to the deep blue eyes filled with a steely determination to protect those he cared about. Even with the subtle blue aura around him that indicated he was dead, Caedus was struck by just how alive Anakin seemed.

And seeing that made the current situation all the more painful.

"Why are you here?" Caedus demanded, allowing the familiar anger to overtake him and mask his real feelings, "Have you come to tell me how much of a disappointment I am as well? Because if you are, you're wasting your breath."

Anakin's eyes softened with pity as he looked over the hollow shell that his brother had become and Caedus seethed as he saw it.

"I could say that," Anakin admitted, "But I'm not going to. That's not why I'm here."

"Here to announce my punishment then?"

"Not exactly."

Caedus frowned in confusion. "What do you mean 'Not Exactly'?"

Anakin smiled at him again, and Caedus really wished he would stop. That kind of smile had no place on Anakin's face. It was a smile that carried no joy, only sadness and was nothing like the Solo grin that Anakin had been so proud of.

"See, that's where it's complicated, Jasa." Anakin spoke softly and ignored Caedus' wince at his childhood name. "Whatever you were at the end, you were a hero once. Without you around looking so desperately for a more peaceful solution the Yuuzhan Vong War could have been a lot worse. And even as you fell you tried to keep the galaxy at peace."

Caedus snorted. "Yeah, I did a great job of that, didn't I?" Sarcasm dripped from his every word, his father would be proud.

Anakin barked a small laugh.

"I know, right? I mean, if you really wanted to unite the galaxy in hatred you could have just read your old jokes over the holonet."

Caedus glared as his younger self momentarily rose to defend his sense of humor. They weren't that bad, were they? He looked for a second like he was about to speak, but then angrily pushed that feeling down. Jacen Solo was dead, and Caedus had no interest in those feelings anymore. Anakin's face fell and the humor vanished.

"But that's not the biggest reason. Jacen, you know as well as I do that you could have won that duel against Jaina."

Caedus looked away. "The price of that was too high."

"Really? I thought you were prepared to sacrifice everything to bring about peace? Didn't Lumiya tell you that the Sith must be prepared to sacrifice?"

"I couldn't let Tenel Ka or Allana die." Caedus admitted quietly.

"And that, Jacen, is why you fail at being a Sith just like grandfather. A true Sith would have not hesitated, would have pushed everything aside until Jaina was dealt with before even thinking about saving others. It wasn't a large act, like Vader's, but it did speak volumes. At the final step down the dark path you stopped, and that makes a difference."

Caedus wasn't sure how to react to that. He wanted to fall back on anger, as he had for so long now but privately some small part of him felt a burst of hope of redemption, which he ruthlessly suppressed. There was no hope for a Sith to join the light. There was no way hesitating about one single act made up for Kashyyk or killing Aunt Mara, or corrupting Tahiri.

"You're right, it doesn't make up for that. Especially Tahiri."

Caedus almost jumped, and realized he hadn't had his shields up. There was no mistaking the anger that had momentarily slipped into Anakin's voice at the thought of what he'd done to Tahiri. Privately, now that he had restored his shields, Caedus allowed the guilt to return. The fact that Anakin was treating him like this, as if he hadn't twisted the girl that might have been his sister-in-law into a monster, as if he was still the Jacen he remembered burned Caedus. He could deal with anger and hate, he was a Sith after all, but this quiet disappointment hurt him in a way that he did not think possible any more.

He quickly rid himself of that thought. Of course it hurt, did he expect anything less?

"So, why, Anakin? Why bother telling me about this if it won't do me any good?"

Anakin smirked. Caedus gulped.

'_I know that smile.'_ He thought. _'I'm not going to like this at all.'_

"No krakana, Jasa, no krakana." The childhood reassurance did not comfort him in the least. "It's just that, with your case being so complicated I've been told to offer you something."

"And what is this offer?" Caedus asked warily.

Anakin just grinned wider and threw his arm around his brother's shoulder. "See, you're not the first case like this. When someone like you shows up, the Force can give something that very few people ever get."

Caedus did not ask, merely waited for his explanation.

Anakin stared directly into the dead Sith's eyes, "You have been offered a second chance."

Caedus' jaw dropped, and his carefully controlled image shattered.

"What?"

"I know you've gotten old, Jasa, but I didn't think your hearing has started to fail." Anakin drawled. From the twinkle in his eyes it was obvious he was very amused by Caedus' comical shocked look.

"What do you mean a second chance?"

"Well, that's where things get even more complicated. The offer's not quite as selfless and forgiving as it looks on the surface. There's a catch."

Caedus sunk to the floor and sighed. "Of course."

"Well, it's a test for you so I can't tell you the details because that would reveal too much and ruin the test. Basically you're being sent to a place that's in a lot of trouble. If you manage to fix things there in the proper way, you'll have redeemed yourself. But, if you don't solve it or if you solve it in the wrong way, then that's it. Game over, thanks for playing."

Anakin stuck his hand out.

"So, what do you say?"

Caedus stared at the hand. Should he? There was no way that he could be forgiven, so why should he?

Unbidden, a memory rose to the front of his mind…

* * *

"Jacen?"

The little voice pulled Jacen out of his thoughts and he looked up.

"Hmm? What is it?"

Allana, _his daughter_ a proud voice in his head whispered, fidgeted under his scrutiny. She was staring at her feet as one hand played with her red curls, clearly nervous. Jacen was struck by just how much she looked like her mother then. He had picked up on the fact long ago that when Tenel Ka was nervous, even though she kept her face completely straight, she would unconsciously play with her hair. On Tenel Ka, the act had been endearing and it warmed his heart to see his daughter taking after her.

"What is it?" He asked soothingly.

"Mama says you're a jedi." It was a question more than a statement.

"Yes, that's right." Where was this heading?

"What's a jedi?"

Jacen's eyebrows piqued as he mulled over the question.

"What brought this on?"

"Well, I was playing in the throne room, and I know I'm not supposed to but I heard these ladies talking to each other and they kept saying all these things about the jedi and they sounded really mean and they used bad words and I don't know and-" Jacen put a finger to her lips, bringing the babbled explanation to a screeching halt.

Warmth spread in Jacen's chest as he looked over his little girl. He chuckled, with how fast the girl was talking maybe he should check if Tenel Ka and Tahiri were related? Now the little princess was biting her lip and looking at him, waiting for an answer.

"A jedi is someone who protects people." He said finally, "We help people when they need it and try to make the galaxy a better place."

"So why were those ladies mean about you?"

Jacen shook his head and stroked his daughter's cheek tenderly. "Some people don't understand," he murmured, "People are scared of what they can't understand, and they don't understand the things we have to do to protect them." There was a sadness in his tone, as he thought what he'd done in the Swarm Wars. Nobody understood that either.

The little girl shook her head. "That's silly! Jacen's not scary at all!"

Jacen smirked. "Not scary? We'll see about that!"

He lunged at the little girl and immediately began tickling her. She shrieked in laughter and tried to escape. For several minutes, the two wrestled around on the ground, until they tired themselves out. Afterwards, Allana lay curled up on Jacen's chest, her eyelids drooping as exhaustion caught up with her. Jacen just laid back and allowed himself to bask in the far-too-rare moment with his daughter, not that she knew she was his daughter. To him, she was just Jedi Jacen, her mother's friend, and as much as it pained him that's how it would have to stay.

"Jacen?" The little voice whispered.

"Yes, Allana?"

"You'll always be there to protect people, right?"

Jacen looked down at her, and then up at the doorway to find Tenel Ka looking down on them. Her face was unreadable, but he could feel the warmth that slipped past her carefully maintained shields and he knew that she was waiting for the answer as well. He met her eyes, and answered.

"Yes. I'll always protect you, and all the people that I can."

* * *

Caedus clenched his fist at the memory. He had promised them he would do everything he could to protect them, to protect people he needed them and look where that had brought him. He'd become so obsessed with "protecting" the galaxy that he allowed himself to fall to the dark side, constantly made excuses to himself and finally became the monster he was now.

He couldn't protect anyone, and he was certainly beyond redemption.

And yet…could he really leave this place, whatever it was, to its crisis? Could he really turn his back on people that, according to Anakin, needed his help? He looked into himself and found that, no, he couldn't. He didn't think he could do it, and he didn't think that he could redeem himself.

But, Force help him, he wanted to try.

He had ruined an entire galaxy believing that it would protect those he cared about and here they were telling him to try again. It was a stupid, irresponsible, and reckless decision.

He grabbed Anakin's hand.

"I'm in."

And that's when the world exploded into light.

* * *

The first thing Caedus became aware of was that his head was pounding. The second thing was that he was feeling pain.

He was fairly certain dead people don't feel pain.

His eyes fluttered open, and his blurred surroundings carefully came into focus. He carefully pushed himself up and surveyed the area.

Wherever he was, it was clear that something terrible had happened here. It was an apartment, from the looks of what was left. The paint on the walls was peeling away and debris and trash littered the floor. There were blaster scorch marks on the walls as well, showing that someone had been here recently.

A glint of light caught his eye, and the Sith turned.

It was a mirror. But the reflection it held was not at all what he was expecting.

The first thing he noticed, and he wondered how he hadn't noticed it before, was that he had both arms. Secondly, he noticed his black robes and uniform were gone, and instead he found all he was wearing was a pair of tattered pants and ragged boots. His face and body were covered in scars, including a large burn-mark right above his heart.

Gingerly, he reached up and touched it. A sharp pain cut through his entire being as he touched it and, were it not for Vergere's training, he would have fallen to his knees in agony.

'_Stupid.'_ He chided himself, _'What did you expect a lightsaber wound to feel like?!'_

He turned away from the mirror. He had seen all he needed to, and while he would never admit it, not even to himself, he was disappointed by what he saw. His eyes were still yellow, and his Sith lightsaber still hang from his belt.

It seemed that the reminders were there to stay.

"You were expecting differently?" He asked himself.

Deciding to push this thought from his head, he decided to walk over to the room's lone window. Maybe he could get his bearings and get some answers about where he was.

And answers he got.

"Impossible." Caedus breathed, "This is…"

"The place where I died." A familiar voice finished.

Caedus whirled around to find himself face to face with the force spirit of Jacen Solo.

The ghost greeted him with a wry Solo grin.

"Welcome to Yuuzhan'Tar."


	2. Awakening

**Second Chance**

**Chapter 1: The Dark Within**

The Force, Caedus decided, had a very sick sense of humor.

Case in point, after being offered a second chance to set things right, he had woken up in a completely impossible situation. First, he was on Yuuzhan'Tar, but things were very different here. Even when he had first arrived on the planet with Vergere, there had still been about as much ruins of Coruscant as there was new Vong-formed land. After his escape and deal with the World Brain, that balance had been forcibly maintained.

This Yuuzhan'Tar, though, held none of that. From what he had seen as he looked out the window, there was almost nothing left to show that this world had once been Coruscant, with the exception of the small patch this building was standing in. This Yuuzhan'Tar was almost completely consumed by Vong life. At no point in his past had Coruscant been so thoroughly transformed, yet here it was.

The second impossible thing? He was staring at the smiling face of a younger version of himself. Caedus gaped, his mind struggling to come up with something to say but no sound came out.

Eventually, the hallucination apparently grew tired of the silence and rolled its eyes. "Jeez, you'd think you saw a ghost or something." It cracked. "I mean, this is kind of pathetic."

Caedus scowled. Great, now even his hallucinations were mocking him. "What are you supposed to be?" He demanded.

His younger mirror image drifted to the side, waving its finger at him. "That should be obvious. I'm you."

"That's impossible."

Suddenly the ghost was an inch away from his face. Caedus stiffened in surprise, clamping down on his body's automatic flinch away. The smile widened though, as it seemed the ghost had seen the flinch anyway.

"Impossible?" The image parroted, "And I suppose being brought back from the dead for redemption's more possible than seeing a ghost?"

Caedus held his ground. "It is when that ghost is _me._" He insisted.

Jacen's smile faded, replaced by an angry stare. "Forgetting something, aren't we? You said it yourself. You're not Jacen Solo anymore, Caedus."

The name was spoken with a powerful disgust, and Caedus felt his heart clench at it. It was the truth, he supposed, but it still hurt to hear it outside of his self-hating thoughts. Still, there were other things to focus on.

"That still doesn't explain anything. I, we, you never died at that age. So how is this possible?"

Jacen turned away from Caedus and floated over to the ruined window. A few tense moments passed as he stared out over the changed landscape with a melancholy-filled gaze.

"I said I was you," Jacen finally stated, "but that's only half true. Things here are a little… different."

Questions filled Caedus' mind, but he settled for the most obvious. "How are they different?"

"It's a little complicated, and to be honest, I don't know exactly what things were like for you. But things started changing when…" Jacen trailed off and his eyes seemed to glaze over. Before Caedus could ask, Jacen's eyes refocused.

"Hm, looks like I won't have to explain it after all." The ghost commented to himself. "You'll be getting a demonstration soon enough." With that, the image began to fade away.

"Wait!" Caedus cried, but it did no good.

Caedus stared around the now empty room. Questions and confusion filled his head as he searched desperately for some answer. He didn't get one.

Cautiously, the ex-Sith approached the window and looked out again. Shadows had smothered the landscape below. Yellow eyes watched with rapt attention as a ship appeared and crashed into the ground, exploding into an inferno that quickly spread. Caedus glanced up, a feeling of dread in his stomach.

Above him, an armada of Star Destroyers hovered in the atmosphere. Coralskippers and star-fighters buzzed around the larger ships in aerial dogfights. In the distance, Caedus saw transport ships landing, dropping off land troops for the invasion.

And then the world itself began to shake.

Caedus could hear every crack as the power of the bombing rattled the already ruined shelter he was in. Bits of ceiling plaster sprinkled down like snow. Caedus quickly realized that he had one option: get out. Now.

Looking around the room, though, Caedus realized there was very little time left and even less options that guaranteed him getting out. In fact, there was only one sure way to escape before the bombing brought down this place around his ears. It was also quite possibly the most dangerous way.

'_Damned Solo genes.'_ He cursed to himself as he made his decision.

Without any more hesitation, the ex-Sith backed away from the window, and _ran_. Clenching his eyes shut, Caedus pushed off from the ground with all his might, including a powerful force push away from the ground. Throwing his arms around his head, he braced himself for what was coming.

_Crash!_

The sound of glass shattering filled his ears, and tiny bits dug in his skin, signifying he'd broken through the window. Wind took hold, and his hair was whipping behind him as his velocity increased.

Problem one was solved, he was out of the building. Now, to keep from falling to his death.

Caedus reached out in the Force, visualizing his surroundings as he knew he couldn't trust his eyes in such a situation. The flow of energy soothed his nerves, and the fallen hero took stock of his situation.

Luckily for him, the particular patch of land the Force had dumped him in still had quite a bit of Coruscant's classic structures left, which meant he had plenty of places to land. He just needed to find the right one.

'_A little more…a little more…there!'_

Caedus's hand shot out, grasping a dangling durasteel beam. The force of his fall hit him and the piece of metal at full force, and the momentum had to travel somewhere. Groaning with stress, the ruined piece of structure swung to the side, taking its passenger with it towards another building.

Once close enough, Caedus released the beam and began to fall. Focusing as hard as he could, he pushed off against the roof below to slow his descent. He hit the roof a few moments later in a roll. He had made it.

That didn't mean the landing hadn't kriffing hurt.

Distant explosions still rang in his ears as he made his way to a large amount of debris sitting on the roof. It wasn't much, but it would do to protect him from any rogue shots. Settling in, Caedus allowed his tense muscles to relax.

"Wow. Nice action sequence there."

Caedus almost jumped again, but quickly reined the reflex in. Turning around, he found himself face to face with his younger ghost-self again. Caedus just grunted in acknowledgement. The doppelganger rolled its eyes.

"Yeah, that brooding silence thing doesn't work for us, you know." Caedus rolled his own eyes.

"Oh, do you have something important to say now?" Sarcasm. Dad would be so proud.

Jacen took a seat, or as much as he could considering he was floating a foot off the ground.

"Sorry, but rules are rules. I can't give you too much information about this world you're in right now, you have to figure it out for yourself. You know the Force, loves all that cryptic self discovery stuff."

"So then what's the point of you being here?"

If the force ghost noticed the hostile tone, he didn't show it. "Well, I suppose you could say I'm your guide while you're here. Your conscience, if you will." He sighed. "There's a lot of chaos in this world and you're going to need my help if you want to make sense of it all."

Caedus steeled himself as another blast shook the ground beneath them. Soon he might have to leave this hiding spot as well, it seemed. "So, if nothing more is going to be explained to me, can we just get on with the test? Why send me here? Am I supposed to help the invasion force or something?"

Jacen got up and walked toward the building, unfazed by the damage going on around him.

He threw a lopsided grin over his shoulder before looking out over the edge.

"I think that's up to you to decide. But you should look around first." Carefully and quickly, the ex-Sith followed.

Caedus looked out over the edge of the building to see a dangerously swaying walkway. Stumbling across it was a cloaked figure, seemingly desperate to get away. Caedus realized the reason why soon enough, when a platoon of soldiers turned the corner in pursuit. The cloaked figure slid to a halt as rubble crashed to the ground, blocking the way to escape. One of the soldiers barked something to his men, but he was too far away to hear it.

"Now just sit back for a little while, and watch." The younger version of himself said.

Caedus focused in the Force, and soon the conversation started to drift up towards his ears.

"That's as far as you go, scarhead." The soldier growled, "This is where we make you pay for what you've done to our galaxy."

The cloaked figure did not react, and for a moment Caedus wondered if the Yuuzhan Vong beneath it had even heard them. Then a rasped laugh began to escape the cloaked figure, and its head raised up to stare at its pursuers.

"Foolish infidels." It hissed. "You think you have won? You think your plague and your fleets matter? How wrong you are."

The leader of the platoon smirked. "Oh? We'll see how 'foolish' we are when we take you in to command for interrogation." He turned to his men. "Set blasters to stun and fire."

Another rattling chuckle filled the alley. "First mistake, and last."

That is when Caedus heard a noise he was all too familiar with, a noise that he was not expecting at all.

_Snap-hiss_.

The alleyway was now bathed in the unmistakable blue light of a lightsaber.

"Force! It's one of the traitor Jedi!" the leader swore. He and his men wasted no more time and immediately pulled the triggers. A hail of laser bolts was unleashed directly at the cloaked figure.

Almost casually, the figure danced and weaved in between the lances of energy towards the troops. Once close enough, the cloaked figure lashed out, and a scream of pain and the scent of burnt flesh filled the area. One soldier fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

Caedus almost leapt down, but an ethereal hand blocked his way.

"Not yet." Jacen told him. "You don't understand the situation enough."

Without so much as a pause, the cloaked warrior pivoted and blocked an incoming blaster bolt. The soldier who fired the shot, now practically radiating fear, scrambled backwards to put some space between him and the rogue jedi.

Not that it did him any good.

Caedus felt the cloaked figure's presence in the force flare, and watched as the jedi grabbed the soldier with the Force and flung him towards his comrades. With a crash, the soldiers landed in a pile, the wind knocked out of them.

The figure overlooked this scene with a dark amusement, and Caedus could practically feel the smirk that was undoubtedly hidden beneath the cowl. The figure turned to the last remaining soldier, the leader of the squad.

"You were so confident before." The figure purred, "What happened to that?"

"I'll show you." He spat.

He raised his blaster up to take aim and the figure immediately slashed with its lightsaber, slicing the front portion of the gun off. This did not deter the man, who roared and actually _lunged_ at the homicidal figure with the lightsaber.

Caedus wasn't sure whether to praise him for his bravery or curse him for his stupidity.

Caedus wasn't the only one taken by surprise, though. The person in the cloak was unprepared as well, and soon found themselves tackled to the ground, lightsaber knocked out of grasp. The two wrestled on the ground, trading blows. Even from his vantage point, Caedus could feel the emotions raging in them.

The figure in the cloak, which seemed familiar but somehow…altered, was simply filled with a cold irritation at the current situation. It was almost unconcerned about the fact that it was in a struggle to the death with a well-trained soldier.

The soldier though, was empty. There was no expectation of living, or winning this fight. The only thing that remained was a fierce desire to see his opponent suffer, and to give his living squad members time to escape. It was a kind of desperate fighting that was more common in animals than sentient species.

With a grunt of effort, the pinned figure in the cloak kicked up and launched the soldier into the air. The jedi twisted and extended an arm, calling for their lightsaber, which immediately flew to their hand. The figure pushed itself to its feet, seemingly unaffected by the previous battle.

Except for one thing: the cloak had been ripped off. The figure's identity was a mystery no more. Caedus stared in shock and horror.

The blonde hair was matted with sweat, and scars spider-webbed across every inch of open skin except her face. Thin vodun crab armor, damaged from who knew how many battles hugged tight to her body. This was the very picture of Yuuzhan Vong transposed over the image of a beautiful human woman.

This was Tahiri Veila.

"Not bad, infidel." She drawled. "But not good enough. Do-ro'ik Vong pratte!" She brought her lightsaber high above her head and cleaved downwards.

"NO!"

The Vong jedi's eyes widened in surprise, and her head lurched back to see Caedus falling towards her, crimson lightsaber drawn. Reacting on pure instinct, she held her own lightsaber up to shield herself.

The harsh screech of lightsaber meeting lightsaber echoed. Tahiri pushed back, flipping away from her sudden adversary.

"Jedai." She spat.

Caedus didn't acknowledge that. "What are you doing, Tahiri!?" He demanded.

The woman snarled. "Do not call me by your false name, human! You will address me by my true name. I am Riina Kwaad of the warrior caste, and you will die!"

Screaming with rage, she launched herself at him, lightsaber swinging. Caedus matched her strike for strike, but was surprised to find how much strength she threw behind each blow.

"You mock me?" She growled, "Fight back, Jeedai!"

"You don't know what you're doing, Tahiri," Caedus tried to reason, "I won't hurt you!" _'You've caused her plenty of pain before, what's different now?'_ a voice in his head taunted, but he pushed it aside. He couldn't afford to get caught up in his thoughts in a battle.

"If you won't fight me naturally, I'll just have to make you." She punctuated this with a lightning fast swipe at Caedus' head, which he barely blocked with his saber. He was unprepared then for her swift kick to his midsection, which sent him sliding back.

"Tahiri…" He warned.

"If you won't do me the honor of fighting with your lightsaber, let's see how you deal with your Force!" Tahiri raised her arm.

The fallen jedi's mind barely had time to register the sound of crackling electricity before a storm of Force lightning surrounded him. Every fiber of his being screamed in pain, and his mouth twisted into a silent scream.

His mind vaguely registered that Tahiri was saying something, but he couldn't make it out. The only thing he could hear was her laughing at his pain.

Her laughing at him. **Him.** The Dark Lord of the Sith!

Caedus was completely unaware as the darkness that had laid dormant inside him, the familiar anger and hate that had ruled him for so long, rose back to the forefront. He was Darth Caedus, he would not be embarrassed by some Vong-formed parody of his apprentice!

All thoughts of atonement vanished, replaced only by the cold malice of a Sith lord who had been insulted.

And those that insult Sith lords have a remarkably short life span.

Tahiri's laughter came to a sudden stop as she felt an invisible hand clench around her windpipe. Her hands immediately flew up to her throat, stopping the force lightning.

Rising to his feet, Caedus' face twisted into a monstrous version of his usual Solo grin as he took in his prey.

"What's the matter, Tahiri?" He mocked, "I thought you wanted me to fight back? Since you liked force lightning so much, maybe I should return the favor?"

Green tendrils of energy flared out from his hands and enveloped the other fallen jedi. Caedus chuckled as he her eyes bulge in pain.

Above him, the force ghost overlooked the scene with open disdain. "Don't make me stop him." He begged, "Don't make me ruin our only hope."

Unaware of this prayer, Caedus advanced on his squirming prey. "Well, Tahiri? Have any last words?"

As the light faded from her eyes, she gazed at him, but she was not seeing him.

"A…na…kin!" She choked out.

That word hit him like a blaster bolt to the gut. The anger bled out, replaced by horror and Caedus dropped her to the ground. Caedus stared at his hands.

"What…what did I almost do?" He breathed. "I almost…"

He rushed over to the fallen blonde, and hastily checked her over. He almost wept with relief when he found a pulse, albeit a weak one. She would live. Tahiri would live.

"Look again, Caedus." Came the grim voice of his younger self.

Confused, Caedus complied. At first, he saw nothing, until he happened to glance at her armor. It was bloated and pale, looking sick. More importantly, a small patch of skin adjacent to the armor had the same look.

Then another piece of information reached his mind. Before she had attacked the soldiers, she had mentioned some sort of plague launched against the Yuuzhan Vong.

While he had never seen the symptoms before, Caedus had heard of them many times. It was supposed to affect only Yuuzhan Vong, but it had once proven capable of turning on other sources.

"Alpha Red." He realized.

Jacen nodded solemnly. "It's already spread from her armor. Before, her immune system was doing a decent enough job of combating it, delaying it from doing serious damage too soon. But with what just happened…" The force ghost trailed off.

"It could spread." Caedus finished as a new wave of guilt hit him. Could he have killed her after all?

No.

He refused to accept that.

He had not taken this second chance to watch another person dear to him die, not if he could help it.

"There must be some way to help her." Caedus said, "You must know of something. There has to be a way!

Jacen hesitated, clearly conflicted, but after a long look at the broken woman on the ground he heaved a defeated sigh. "There is."

Caedus merely waited for an explanation.

Jacen pointed to the east. "There's an encampment of heretics in that direction, led by a few rogue shapers. They are supposed to hold a way to fight the virus, at least for a short time."

"Only a short time?"

"If the Vong had found a full-fledge cure do you think they'd have let their prized shaped Jedi contract this disease?" Jacen snapped. Caedus silently acknowledged the point.

"So, it will keep her safe for now, while we look for a full cure?" Jacen nodded to the question. "What about Cilghal, the Jedi. Could they help?"

Once more the force ghost hesitated. "I suppose it's possible, but…"

Caedus nodded. "Then it's settled. We see these heretics and then get off planet to find the Jedi as soon as possible."

"They're not exactly going to welcome a Sith Lord into their midst with open arms." Jacen pointed out.

His darker self sighed. "I know, but we don't have a choice. I had wanted to avoid them for as long as I could, but there's no other way for it now. I can't really expect really expect redemption if I abandon her after this."

Gently, the ex-Sith lifted the woman into his arms. With his goal in mind, he began to walk.

* * *

**Ossus**

It was a strangely peaceful day, and he allowed himself to revel in it. There was so little time for it nowadays, that every moment like this was precious.

He resolutely wiped all the dark thoughts of the war from his head, not wanting to dwell on them anymore.

"Master?" A young voice called.

The man felt a smile form on his face and turned towards the source. "Ah, Ben. You found me."

Ben Skywalker, Jedi padawn, threw his master a flat look that could only come from his mother's genes. The resemblance to the older redhead was somewhat unnerving, the man had to admit.

"With all due respect, Master, you're not exactly doing a good job of shielding yourself." The man chuckled at the dry comment and ruffled his apprentice's hair, knowing the boy hated it. Sure enough, the boy's face twisted into a grimace at the affection, and he squirmed away.

"You'll have to excuse me, Ben. I was just meditating."

The child snorted. "You? Meditating? Pull the other one?"

A deep, heartfelt laughed escaped him. "I suppose you're…"

Suddenly, the feeling of unimaginable pain hit him, paired with a desperate fear.

'_ANAKIN!'_ a voice screamed in the back of his mind. It was a voice he had not heard in so very long, but one he could never forget. The pain, the need was so intense that he didn't even have to think about responding.

'_TAHIRI!'_

The man fell to the ground, clutching his head as the pain left him. "Master!" Ben cried from beside him, and soon two small hands were grabbing him by the shoulders and pulling him up.

"I'm fine." He gasped to his student, "Just…taken aback."

"What was that?"

"Someone contacted me. Someone I haven't heard from in a long time." He muttered, pushing himself back to his feet. He started to walk as fast as he was able in the direction of his ship.

"Master? Where are we going?"

"To find someone." He responded.

He had only felt it for a moment, and he would readily admit to himself that the pain may have just been causing him to imagine things, but he had felt more than just Tahiri's presence there. There had been another familiar presence, very familiar, and yet tinged with darkness. Was this presence connected to the first time Tahiri had contacted him since they were captured? For that matter, who was the other presence? It was a mystery.

A mystery to solve, and a chance to find Tahiri again.

He was interested. And when something caught his interest, nothing could stop him from doing what he needed to.

Anakin Solo, Jedi Master, was just like that.

END

* * *

A/N: Err, wow. That took a long time…

Anyway, here's my first action chapter. I only have a little experience writing fight scenes, so I would love tips and critiques in that area more than anything. Did you like it? Hate it?

But yeah, other comments. It should be easy to guess that Caedus is an AU now, although I'm not revealing where the AU diverged from canon just yet, sorry. ;) Just know that things are different for characters here, and that's not always for the better.

I also wanted to make it obvious that just because he wants to redeem himself of his time on the dark side doesn't mean that Jacen's on the light side right now. He's in a precarious position right now, on the line between light and dark, and he can be pushed either way. He'll get his redemption eventually, but don't expect it to be easy. Not everyone can pull a Vader "Redemption Equals Death" moment. Not to mention, when Jacen goes into full-on Darth Caedus mode, I want to make him actually feel like a villain in the way that the canon EU botched up horribly. If he's supposed to be as bad as Vader, then you're actually going to see that, and not him getting made to look like a complete idiot by Luke in a starfighter and Mandalorians.

On the subject of pairings(because someone's going to ask eventually), J/TK and A/T will be making an appearance for sure. Jaina's a mystery for me, as she's got more than enough potential suitors that are good characters. If you have a preference on that front, go ahead and put it in your review.

That's…really all I have to say. Please review.


	3. The Prophet

**Second Chance**

**Chapter 2: Blast from the Past**

As it turns out, running through the middle of a warzone carrying an injured comrade is an annoyingly dangerous and difficult pursuit. Caedus had discovered this first hand.

Despite the mostly organic surface of this new Yuuzhan'Tar, there was still no shortage of hazards for travelers. Aside from the obvious threat of falling wreckage from the battle that raged above, there were literally dozens of other perils Caedus had not thought of. Dodging them had made the long trek to the valley that supposedly contained the hideout utterly exhausting.

To make things worse, his ever-so-helpful younger ghost-self was being tight-lipped about any further information about the hideout's location. This meant that Caedus had to search by foot for the hideout. Unfortunately, a mass of Vong-formed tree-things and leftover ruins meant there were so many places to hide it was downright ridiculous. Even his Vong-sensing abilities were not much help because of the "forest" surrounding him bustling with so much life it was impossible to really pinpoint anything.

Finally, the frustration proved too much. Caedus collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.

"Hey! Why are you stopping?" Came the whiny voice of the younger Jacen.

Caedus rolled his eyes, carefully placing the still unconscious Tahiri onto the ground before responding. "Resting." He grunted in reply. "Unless you've changed your mind and decided to be useful…" There was definitely a glare to go with that comment, "I'm going to need a lot more energy to keep this blind search going."

The force ghost just shook its head and chuckled.

"What?" Caedus growled. "What's so funny?"

"You're missing the most obvious solution." Jacen taunted, "In the old days, you would have figured it out immediately."

Caedus opened his mouth to question this, but stopped when he noticed that the force ghost's eyes were not aimed at him. The ex-Sith followed his other-self's line of sight.

Hanging from top of some wreckage was a small, winged creature with leathery skin. An incredibly common creature that Caedus had seen countless times: a mynock.

Caedus' eyes widened as he realized what the force ghost was hinting at. He glanced back at the specter to find an approving smile on the young face.

"Now you get it." Jacen said.

Caedus nodded and then turned back to the sleeping creature. Cautiously, slowly, he approached it. When he was about a meter away, the animal suddenly twitched, and its two beady black eyes stared right at him. It let out a screech and made to flee.

Caedus reached out in the Force, radiating soothing feelings to the startled creature. It worked, and the creature settled back, watching him warily, but still allowing him to come closer. Encouraged, Caedus moved closer and extended his hand to the creature. The mynock curiously sniffed at his hand, before crawling on top of his open palm. What could only be described as a happy screech followed.

He smiled down at the mynock. "You'll need a name." He muttered to himself, "How about…Wings?"

The newly dubbed Wings screamed in agreement.

Despite himself, Caedus felt a warmth enter him. This was familiar. It reminded him of all those times back at the Academy, when things had been so simple. Memories of his many adventures with his fellow young jedi knights filled his head. Lowie, Raynar, Zekk, Jaina, Tenel Ka…

Caedus shook himself. There was no time to get nostalgic right now. He looked down at the animal in his hand.

"I need your help," he whispered to it, knowing the animal could not understand the words but trying to convey his meaning with the Force, "I need to find some people."

Wings cocked its head to the side, as if asking for more information.

"They look like…this." Caedus pushed an image of a Yuuzhan Vong Shamed One into the creature's mind.

The creature suddenly screeched in acknowledgement and took off into the air. Caedus could not help it as a silly, boyish grin came over him.

"Looks like he knows where to go."

No time to waste, he grabbed Tahiri's prone form and followed.

He paid no mind to the distinctly pleased look on his younger self's face.

**Hyperspace**

Anakin could not sleep. This was not too unusual; Force knew that sleeping in the cramped cockpit of a starship was difficult to sleep in, but that was not the problem this time.

No, he couldn't sleep because his thoughts always wandered to uncomfortable subjects.

_Tahiri…_

Anakin tried to shake it again, but the feeling still refused to leave. The vision on Ossus had reopened wounds he had long thought sealed. Sure, there were the expected emotions. Worry, from the pain he felt her in, hope because he was finally hearing from her after so many years, a strange feeling he could not quite identify that always came up when he thought of Tahiri, these were expected.

Unfortunately, so was the guilt.

No matter how many people told him otherwise, Anakin would always blame himself for not rescuing Tahiri when she was captured. No one knew just what was happening to her at the time, and with the other, bigger problems going on at the time he was forced to put any rescue on hold. By the time everything had been managed, he could find no trace of her. And then Jacen…

"Master!"

Anakin reflexively plastered a smile on his face and turned to face the annoyed, and barely awake, face of his apprentice.

"Yeah, Ben?"

The padawan rolled his eyes, "Did you not hear the comm. going off?"

Anakin blinked, and realized, yes, the comm. was going off. Huh. He grinned sheepishly at the young redhead. "Whoops. Got lost in thought there for a while."

Ben just sighed and turned around. "Just hurry up and answer it, it's from the council." He then walked off, mumbling to himself. Anakin could have sworn he heard an exasperated 'Solos' in there, but he decided that was not really important.

Pressing a couple of buttons, Anakin leaned back to watch as the blue hologram of a Jedi appeared.

"Master Solo," the Jedi said sternly, "You're supposed to be on Ossus. Care to explain what you think you're doing away from the training grounds?"

Anakin grinned cheekily. "I just thought the boy needed a change of scenery, Grand Master Skywalker." He said, pretending to live up to the formality.

A raised eyebrow answered him. "Really, Anakin?" the Grand Master drawled, "Because according to our sensors you're heading straight for Vong-held space. In direct defiance of orders, might I add."

"Sensors?" Anakin parroted, stunned, before the answer dawned on him. He smacked himself on the forehead. "I knew I shouldn't have let Jaina help with the repairs…" he muttered.

The Grand Master chuckled, "Yes, you shouldn't have." Then it was straight back to business, "Now, what's the real reason?"

Anakin paused. For a split second, he considered lying. He could come up with a multitude of excuses, plenty of which could get him off the hook. However, he knew that he should probably come clean.

"I had a vision." Anakin admitted, "a vision of Tahiri, and she was calling for me."

The Grand Master sighed, "And of course, you threw all caution to the wind once Tahiri came into the picture and just decided to go after them, right?"

Anakin nodded.

"Nothing I say is going to get you to turn around?"

Another nod.

The leader of the Jedi Order's hands flew up in defeat. "Fine. You have my blessing to check this vision out."

Anakin was about to express his thanks when he was cut off. "But!" The Grand Master warned, "I'm sending someone else to help you."

Anakin straightened. "What?" He protested, "You can't…"

"Can, and will." Came the firm reply. "I will not let you put my son in that kind of danger without some backup."

Anakin grimaced, not comfortable with having to take another jedi along, but he also knew there wouldn't be any arguing here.

"Alright. I'll take them with." He reluctantly agreed.

"Glad to hear it, I'll have them rendevouz with your current route." The tone softened, "Be careful, kid, we've been getting intel that the Alliance has something huge going on but there's total information blackout."

Anakin smirked. "It's me! I'm always careful."

Another piqued eyebrow, "You and I have very different definitions of the word 'careful', apparently." Came the dry reply.

Playfully, Anakin pouted, which only got another laugh in response. "Goodbye, Anakin."

"Goodbye, Aunt Mara."

"This is it?" Caedus spoke to his little companion currently perched on his shoulder. The only answer he got was another screech, as if to say 'Of course it is, you moron.'

Looking at the "entrance", Caedus had to admit he was a little underwhelmed. There was no real security, just a small hatch hidden in the side of a mound of dirt, camouflaged to blend in with surroundings. Absolutely nothing else was there. The fallen Jedi was almost embarrassed he hadn't found it on his own.

A moan of pain from the blonde girl in his arms reminded him that he didn't have time to dwell on those little details. He grabbed hold of the handle and pulled as hard as he could. With a harsh creak, the hatch swung open, revealing a long tunnel below with no light at all.

"Of course." Caedus mumbled to himself.

Carefully, not wanting to hurt either of his passengers, he jumped down into the hole and landed with a resounding thud.

"Ok, let's recap. I'm in the middle of a warzone, carrying an injured friend, and walking into unknown territory with no way of seeing where I'm going. Yeah, this has great idea written all over it."

"Oh cut it out with the sarcasm and negative thinking already." Came the echoing voice of his ghostly mirror. "It's not going to do us any good."

"Oh, right, I'll just think happy thoughts when I've got someone's life depending on me and I have no idea what's going on around here." Caedus shot back, "It's not like you've been extremely forthcoming with information."

Only silence met his rebuke for a second before, "I don't have to tell you. Someone else will soon enough, but you won't like it." And suddenly the Force presence of his ghost vanished.

"Wha…" Caedus froze. He had been distracted before, but now he heard it loud and clear. The skittering of small rocks being kicked aside, the faint sounds of breathing and occasional mutters in another language.

Someone was following him.

Caedus quickened his pace, but didn't start running. That would give it away that he knew someone was following him. If he could lure them out though…

"Stop!" Barked a harsh voice.

Well, so much for that plan. Caedus skid to a halt, readying himself for anything. A light suddenly flashed, and Caedus looked up to see a group of Vong holding some kind of glowing plants like flash lights.

One of them stepped forward.

"We have been watching your search for a long time, human," he rasped, "You have been wandering around too long to just be looking for shelter. You are looking for us."

The speaking Vong leaned forward, giving Caedus a clearer view of his unscarred face, the mark of a Shamed One. "The question becomes: Why are you looking for us?"

Caedus glanced down, and the speaker followed his eyes. Once he saw Tahiri's face, though, he howled with rage.

"You dare!" He roared as his fellow heretics joined in the chorus of outrage, "You dare bring Shimmra's puppet Jeedai here!"

Another Vong stepped forward. "We should kill her now. Before she awakens and attacks!"

Cries of agreement followed, and the second speaker stepped closer. Caedus' yellow eyes narrowed. Shifting Tahiri's weight to his other arm, he summoned his lightsaber to his now free hand and activated it with a signature snap-hiss.

The room was now bathed in crimson light, and combined with the fierce glare on Caedus' face, the effect would have frightened even the most seasoned warriors.

"You will not touch her." The ex-Sith declared.

Cowed, the Shamed Ones backed down, all except for the first speaker.

"You are a Jeedai."

Caedus gave him a flat look.

"Tell me, Jeedai, why do you bring a traitor to your kind to us? Are you a traitor as well?"

Caedus didn't take the bait. "She's been infected with Alpha One. It's said that your little group knows how to slow the symptoms."

The lead Shamed One let out a slow hiss. "Perhaps we do. But why should we heal one who has killed so many of our brethren?"

Caedus glanced down at the peaceful face of Tahiri, and tried to imagine her doing what they said. At first, nothing came to him. He couldn't picture Tahiri hunting down Shamed Ones like that.

The picture of her time as his apprentice came all too quickly to remedy that and Caedus felt sick. Even without him around, it seemed Tahiri was manipulated and twisted into a weapon.

This had to be corrected.

"I plan on restoring her original self, before her shaping." Caedus answered, "But that would be pointless if she dies before I can get her off-world."

"You expect us to heal her?" Growled another of the shamed ones.

"She's a monster!"

"We should kill her now!"

"Enough!" Bellowed the first speaker. He turned to the others. "We'll take them to the prophet." He cast one eye in Caedus' direction.

"Your fate shall be decided there."

Minutes later, Caedus found himself inside the main encampment of the heretics. Though the party that had discovered him tried to block his view by surrounding him on all sides, there were still occasional glimpses at the state of the lair.

It was not a pretty picture.

Shapers scurried about, tending to shamed ones that showed obvious signs of Alpha Red infection, but there was a sense of hopelessness to it all. Not once did Caedus see a happy face, only exhausted and despaired. And of course, there were the curious ones.

Just as he could occasionally see them, the surrounding heretics could see him as well. As more and more of them got a glimpse of him, whispers began to arise, and Vong began twisting around to get a better view. Caedus tried his best to ignore this and focused straight ahead.

Finally, his guides brought him to a stop in front of a small tent.

"The prophet is in there." The leader explained.

Caedus nodded and ducked inside.

The interior of the tent was a testament to austerity. There was precious little inside of it, except for a few salvaged, barely-working lights from old Coruscant and a rug. Thanks to the condition of the lights, it was also hard to see. Again.

Great.

"I need your help." He called out.

There was no response.

He motioned to Tahiri, "She's infected with Alpha Red. You can slow the infection."

Again, no reply.

Caedus couldn't help it as the annoyance welled up. "Just show yourself!"

A trill-like chuckle could be heard, and Caedus felt the blood in his veins freeze. He had heard that before.

"Jacen Solo." The voice said, "I must admit, I thought you dead a long time ago. It seems your family has a talent for surviving against all odds."

Slowly, a figure emerged from the other side of the tent. It's birdlike silhouette and trilling chuckle only cementing its owner's identity. Caedus felt his mouth go dry.

"Vergere."

The Fosh stepped into the light.

"Yes." She chirped, "You remember me, despite our limited interaction in the past. Interesting."

Caedus stiffened as his old teacher, _not in this world_ a voice reminded him, looked him over. She paused for a moment at the sight of Tahiri, but only for a moment. What finally stopped her was a look into Caedus' eyes. She shook her head, seemingly disappointed.

"I see you have gone down the dark path. Forever will it dominate your destiny, as a wise master once said." Caedus couldn't help himself, the reply was almost a reflex.

"But everything you say is a lie."

The Fosh paused, giving him a curious eye. "So it is, Jacen Solo." She muttered, "So it is."

There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment as the two sized each other up, before Caedus spoke up again.

"Will you help her or not?" He asked gruffly.

Vergere cast a lazy look in the blonde girl's direction. "Of course. We will not turn away someone in need. However, nothing is free, young Jedi."

Caedus just looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

"I shall be frank. These Yuuzhan Vong need a way off the planet. You are going to help us procure it."

"Fine." Caedus agreed, knowing he was in no position to bargain with Tahiri's life on the line. "We'll convince the Alliance to pick you up as well."

Vergere stared at his proposal, before throwing her head back and laughing. Caedus waited, unamused.

"My, Jacen, you truly are uninformed." Vergere stated. "The Alliance would not grant clemency to us."

"You fight against Shimmra, though, of course they will." Caedus argued. "They'll take any ally they can get."

Vergere gave him a pitying look, as if he were a small, uneducated child. It was a look he was familiar with. He hated it then, he hated it now.

As much as he was influenced by Vergere's teachings, he had forgotten how utterly infuriating the bird could be.

"If they were willing to fight alongside Yuuzhan Vong rebels, they would not have unleashed this plague. This, as you call it, 'Alpha Red', now would they?"

That brought Caedus up short. Why had the virus been unleashed? There had been a great many people against it in his time, why had it been unleashed here?

"I'll explain it to you, once." Vergere said. "Your Alliance decided that this war had gone on long enough, and were willing to go to any lengths to end it. They turned to a new policy proposed by a certain species. I believe the Bothans call it 'Ar'kai'."

Caedus stared at the alien in horror. "No." He denied. "There were plenty of people who opposed it…"

Vergere cut him off, "Of course there were. But how many do you think would actively fight against it? How many would rebel against your Alliance to save an enemy they had been fighting for over a decade? No matter how much they disliked the idea of genocide, precious few were going to go that far."

Caedus still tried to protest. "But the Jedi…"

"The Jedi? Oh yes, many of them were not happy, and a few sources I have tell me that many left the Alliance. But by no means all. In effect, there are two Jedi Orders now. A loyalist, and a pacifist branch. What do you think of that, Jacen Solo?"

Caedus had no answer.

"And besides," Vergere continued, "The Alliance has no idea what it has just walked into on this planet."

"What are you saying?" Caedus asked, dreading the answer.

"Think for yourself, Jacen. What was the battle in orbit like?"

"It looked like it was heavily in Alliance favor." Caedus recalled, "There were only a few Vong ships and…" He trailed off as realization hit him.

"Yes?" Vergere prodded.

"There were too few ships to be defending a place as important as Yuuzhan'Tar. Especially if Shimmra is here." Caedus concluded.

"Which means?"

"Shimmra has something planned."

Vergere nodded. "Well done, Jacen Solo. You've deduced what the Alliance has not. Yuuzhan'Tar will not be the last stand of Shimmra and his followers."

Caedus finished for her. "It's a trap."

On cue, the ground began to rattle beneath their feet.

END

**A/N:** Finally! Chapter 3's done after over a month dealing with finals and such distracting me. Unfortunately, it's a bit shorter than the last chapter, but I don't think that's too big of an issue.

So yeah, onto comments.

I wasn't sure I wanted to include Vergere, mostly because she's really difficult to write, but I figure that any story that talks about Jacen/Caedus fixing his mistakes is going to have to deal with the poultry eventually. You are totally allowed to boo at the part she appears.

Mostly an exposition chapter, but the action will pick up again in the next update, I promise.

That's all I really have to say.

-Jord839


	4. Escape from Yuuzhan'Tar Part 1

**Second Chance**

**Chapter Three: Escape from Yuuzhan'Tar, Part 1**

**

* * *

**

**Yuuzhan'Tar, outside of Shimmra's Palace, Half a standard hour ago**

Yuuzhan'Tar was shaking.

Muted rumblings could be heard in any part of the planet as turbolasers collided with the planet's surface. The fresh biological constructs of the Yuuzhan Vong came crumbling down like trees in a hurricane as the armies of defenders and invaders alike waded through the landscape. It was the very picture of war.

To the Yuuzhan Vong, the battle was amazing and exhilarating. To Ganner Rhysode, it was just disgusting.

Ganner slashed at an oncoming Vong with his lightsaber, transforming the attacker's battle cry into a scream of pain. He did not have time to savor the victory though as a telltale whistle reached his ears. Ganner threw himself to his left, and immediately the spot where he had been standing exploded in a cloud of dust. The jedi threw a look over his shoulder.

"Someone take out the kriffin' artillery!" He ordered.

Only the cry of "Yes, sir!" told him that his troops had received the command. Ganner's eyes had already turned towards his next target.

Ahead of him, a squad of Yuuzhan Vong warriors were charging at his position with their amphistaffs unfurled. They roared at him in challenge.

Ganner smirked. "Who am I to disappoint?"

Refusing to waste any more time, Ganner dashed forward. He weaved in between the launched thudbugs and the scattered explosions, moving so fast he might as well have been a blur. Once the Vong squad was close enough, Ganner pushed off into the air.

Using gravity to his advantage, he came down in the middle of the group swinging. At least two warriors went down immediately, before he landed in a crouch. The other warriors took an extra second to sort out the confusion of having their enemy in their midst.

That second would cost them dearly.

Ganner launched himself back up, driving a powerful shoulder into the nearest warrior and sending him flying into his compatriots. The jedi then spun around to block an amphistaff with his lightsaber.

"You will die, jeedai." The warrior growled.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, scar-face." Ganner replied flippantly.

Angry at the retort, the alien pushed harder on his end of their locked blades. Ganner couldn't help but feel smug as the warrior played directly into his hands. Ganner pushed back a little, but just when the warrior returned with more force, Ganner ducked.

Without the other blade to block him and slow his momentum, the warrior was off-balance. Quickly, Ganner grabbed his opponent on the shoulder portion of his armor and heaved in the same direction. The Yuuzhan Vong was thrown to the side, meeting an unfortunate end with the swinging amphistaff of his recovered comrades trying to sneak up on their jedi foe. Ganner then attacked them again, this time making sure they would not get up again.

Watching as his last opponent fell, Ganner opened his mouth to say something.

"Die, infidel!"

Pain blossomed out from his shoulder as the amphistaff cut into the back of his armor. Had he been wearing his traditional robes instead of standard armor, it probably would have cut right through and delivered the living weapons' poison directly into him. While the armored mesh that made up his uniform saved him from the most dangerous part of the cut, it did not protect him _that_ much. His fingers went slack and his deactivated lightsaber fell to the ground with a thud. With a gasp, Ganner fell forward, barely twisting around to see his attacker.

The Yuuzhan Vong sneered down at him. "So the mighty Jeedai general isn't as great as he thinks he is."

Ganner winced in pain. "You know me?" He baited, hoping for more time. If he could just get his lightsaber…

His only answer was a throaty laugh followed by a mocking tone. "Yesss, I know who you are, Jeedai. The mighty Ganner, killer of thousands, falls at the hands of a single soldier because he wasn't paying attention." He laughed again.

Ganner reached out with the force, searching, and felt a surge of relief. There was his lightsaber. Pulling, he called it to his outstretched hand-

Only for his attacker to step on it midway.

"This has all been very amusing, but I can't waste any more time on you. Now die!" The amphistaff swung down.

BZZT!

Ganner watched as a blaster bolt collided with the warrior and he cried out in pain. He then pulled his now free lightsaber to him, activated it, and thrust forward. Moments later, the Yuuzhan Vong fell to the floor, dead. Ganner stayed on the ground to collect his breath.

"Master!"

Ganner looked up to see a young human dressed in a mixture of jedi robes with standard infantry armor dashing towards him with a smoking sidearm. His lips curved into a smile.

"Nice save there, Jorsc. Good thing you were watching my back."

Jorsc Bemad, Ganner's padawan learner, shook his head roughly which sent his unkempt pale blonde hair flying everywhere. "Just a lucky shot, master. I'm sure you would have thought of something."

In the past, Ganner would have let such praise come in heaps, thinking he deserved it all. All these long years of war had taught him some humility though.

"No, I wasn't watching my back. He got enough of a drop on me that he would have taken me out." The general admitted.

His padawan smirked, and his eyes twinkled. "Kinda ruins the whole fun when they sneak up behind you, eh?"

Ganner nodded. "Yes, sometimes I wish they'd just all come at me from one direction. I could probably take down hundreds of them."

Again, **some** humility.

Ganner decided that enough time had been wasted, "Have they taken out the artillery?"

Before the recruit could answer, a resounding boom hit their ears and the two turned around to look. The towers that the Vong's artillery had been stationed in tumbled down to the ground. Jorsc whistled appreciatively.

The path to Shimmra's palace was now wide open. It was time to act.

Ganner fished out a comm. unit from his armor and brought it up to his face. "This is General Rhysode. The way is clear, repeat, the way is clear. Make a way inside."

"Yes, sir." A garbled voice answered.

Ganner picked himself up, flinching slightly with the pain in his shoulder. He turned to his soldier companion. "Jorsc, we need to take cover."

Jorsc looked confused, but then the roar of engines could be heard. Both jedi looked up and watched as two fighters zoomed towards them. Jorsc nodded to his master, and the two dashed to some fallen wreckage to watch.

They did not have to wait long.

The two fighters let loose their weapons at the same time, proton torpedoes crashing into the organic walls of the Supreme Overlord's fortress. The structure groaned under the assault, but it could not last. Soon enough, the walls too collapsed, and the fighters pulled away to rejoin the battles above.

Ganner and Jorsc left their hiding place and surveyed the sight before them. Behind them, a mass of footsteps and the hum of engines approached. Ganner turned around to face his troops.

Looking at the assembled men, Ganner felt a sense of pride. There were far more surviving troops here than he had expected. Every species, age, and gender that he had brought down to this battle had a few representatives standing before him at the ready. Their eyes were hard, and their bodies tense. Ganner did not need the force to tell that they hungered for battle, for vengeance.

Good.

"If you're expecting a speech, you won't be getting one." He began, "All I have to give you is one simple order."

He paused, letting the silence overwhelm them.

"Finish this war. Permanently."

A roar of approval answered him, and the troops raised their blaster rifles to show their support. They had all lost so much to the Vong over the years. Here, now, was their greatest chance at victory. This was their day to pay back their losses and reclaim their galaxy.

Ganner couldn't disagree with the sentiment. "What are you waiting for? Charge!" He turned on his heel and did just that, and his troops followed him into the demon's belly.

In the rush of emotions, Ganner tried very hard to push back the voice that he had heard so much these past few years as the war had dragged on. It was insistent though, and the questions it asked him made him uneasy.

Why had he felt that small moment of pleasure as he cut down his enemies? Since when had he felt vengeance was a good thing? What did it all mean?

Ganner wasn't sure he would like the answer.

* * *

**Well of the World Brain**

"The infidels have entered the Supreme Overlord's palace."

Following that declaration, the silence was deafening. The assembled priests and shapers did not react, instead looking at the speaker with shared expressions of grim determination. Each of them knew they had contracted the plague that ravaged Yuuzhan'Tar, the one that their leader told them the Gods had sent to punish them for showing mercy to the infidels of this galaxy.

There would be no more mercy. Least of all from them, who had nothing to live for anymore.

The priest who spoke before nodded to them all. "Then let us follow our orders."

That was all that was needed. The assembled quickly moved to their positions at the lip of the well. One by one they grabbed hold of the shaper's newest creations, given to them by the gods in the Eighth Cortex. Simultaneously, they all pressed a soft portion of the creature and a hiss filled the room. Barely visible strands of greenish tinged air began to seep out, but it was more than enough. All of the Yuuzhan Vong gathered felt the painful constriction of their chests as the gas entered their system.

As one, they threw the gas-emitting creatures into the Well.

Immediately, a deafening psychic scream brought them to their knees. The cavern around them, protected from the battles raging above, began to crumble around them. But none of the gathered cared. They knew they were dying. The World Brain itself was dying.

And Yuuzhan'Tar would die with them.

* * *

**Tunnel system**

Caedus had seen many evacuations over the years, both as the one helping them and the one who caused them. No matter how many times he saw them, though, he could never get used to the panicked chaos that came with. It seemed that despite all their claims of being superior, the Yuuzhan Vong felt fear just like any other sentient.

This explained why Caedus found himself leading a terrified mob of Shamed Ones through the dark tunnels towards their last hope for survival. It was not exactly the kind of chaos he was used to, probably because of the stern glares of the heretic warriors with them that kept the more panicked Shamed Ones too cowed to do anything stupid or dangerous. Still, Caedus made sure to keep track of the group of shapers just behind him carrying and tending to the still unconscious Tahiri. To his left was Vergere, who occasionally glanced at him and the others, but for the most part kept her face pointing straight ahead.

"You find it strange, do you not? That Yuuzhan Vong would act this way." Caedus's thoughts were interrupted by the out-of-place serenity of Vergere's voice.

Caedus did not respond, but Vergere simply went ahead anyway. "These Shamed Ones, heretics, for all their culture tells them to embrace pain and death are afraid. Why do you think that is, Jacen Solo?"

Caedus was struck by just how familiar this all seemed. It seemed no matter what universe he was in, Vergere still had an unnatural love for probing questions.

"It is natural." Caedus answered, "We all feel fear, whether we like it or not. It can't be escaped."

This time, Vergere turned to look at him, and Caedus was uncomfortably aware of the way she focused on his yellow eyes. The ex-Sith could not read his former master's face, but he had a sinking feeling that she understood far more about him than she let on just like his first time on Yuuzhan'Tar. In the past, this had humbled him and made him curious in her lessons.

All these years later, all it did was make him nervous.

He pushed the unwanted emotion down just as the Fosh began to speak again. "Not quite the answer I would expect from a Jedi. I wonder, what makes you different from the rest of your order?"

The group came to a halt at a fork in the tunnel, with a darker tunnel leading off to the left. If she was expecting an answer, Caedus was not going to oblige. Instead, he faced straight ahead and spoke stiffly. "What is this plan of yours?"

Vergere gave a trill-like chuckle at his obvious avoidance, but decided to play along. "These tunnels are old and abandoned, which means Shimrra's forces will not be expecting us. More importantly, though, it shields us from the attacks on the surface and leads almost directly to our destination."

"And that would be?"

"There are many ships scattered around this world, but I can only think of one that would be protected enough to guarantee us an undamaged ship large enough to carry all of these refugees."

Caedus mulled over his experience on Yuuzhan'Tar, trying to think of a place similar to the one Vergere described. The answer came to him quickly, and his eyes widened.

"The palace." He breathed with a little disbelief, "You want us to assault the palace and get into the hangar?"

"Can you think of a better option, Jacen Solo?"

Caedus honestly wished he did. But despite wracking his brain, he realized that there was not much more of an option. It seemed as if the entire planet was about to do something horrible, and he sensed that they did not have time to turn back and reevaluate their options. Resigned, he let out a deep sigh.

"No." He conceded, "So what exactly is the plan?"

"The assault team will surface just outside the palace gates themselves. Most likely, your Galactic Alliance," The ancient Jedi ignored his look at calling it _his _Alliance, "has already begun an assault there. A few of our most talented warriors take advantage of the confusion and slip into the hangar, get a ship, and meet us at rendezvous bunker." Vergere laid out the plan.

Caedus listened to the plan with a tired look on his face. "I suppose I'm going with the assault group?"

Vergere didn't bother confirming that. She just glanced back at Tahiri, with the implied message being very clear. He had to go with them if he wanted her to survive.

"Fine. But how exactly are we supposed to get into the hangar?"

"I am sure you will think of something, Jacen Solo." Was the only answer he got.

Vergere then turned around, and called out in the language of the Yuuzhan Vong. Seven warriors heard the order and broke from the main crowd to approach them. Vergere acknowledged them with a slight nod.

"You seven are to lead Jacen Solo to the end of this tunnel. Once there, you are to take orders from him. Get a ship and he will lead you to our destination. Understood?"

The warriors gave the aged alien jedi a salute.

"Good. Now, go."

Vergere turned to the rest of the heretics and barked another order in Yuuzhan Vong, and the group slowly trickled into the leftmost tunnel. Caedus watched as they vanished into the darker area, especially as the shapers holding Tahiri started to leave. It hit him then that he had no other options anymore. Before, he could have possibly backed out of any Vergere's plans and taken Tahiri on his own. Instead, he'd let himself get distracted and maneuvered to a position where Vergere held Tahiri, meaning he would be forced to do as she said if he wanted to get her back and help her live through all this.

The darker parts of his being seethed at being outmaneuvered, even though Caedus knew there was no guarantee that Vergere was actually doing it to manipulate him.

'_Everything she says is a lie, though.'_ A ghostly voice whispered in his ear.

Then again, he had no proof that she hadn't done it for that purpose either.

Again, Caedus wondered at the enigma of his old master. Had Luminara been telling the truth about Vergere being a Sith? He wasn't sure. It seemed at odds with everything he had experienced with her.

Still, he knew he should be careful. It would not be the first time he thought someone wasn't on the dark side only to be proven wrong, he bitterly thought.

"Jeedai." The growl interrupted his introspection.

Caedus turned to face the scowling warrior that addressed him.

"Come, Jeedai. We do not have time to waste." Without saying any more, the speaker and his fellow warriors turned towards the right path and began to walk.

As he followed them down the path to what would surely be a battle, Caedus could not shake the dire sensations he was getting from the Force.

He would have to be very careful with everything it seemed.

A while later, Caedus and the heretic warriors reached the end of the tunnel. They turned to Caedus, awaiting orders. Apparently they trusted Vergere quite a bit to follow her orders so easily, he would have to file that information away for later. But for now, it was time to focus on the mission.

"Stay here. I'll go up and scout ahead." Caedus ordered.

Seeing they all understood, Caedus grabbed hold of the rocks jutting that were out of the wall and began to climb into the chute above. At the top was a false layer, meant to hide the tunnel, which looked like a mix of Coruscant salvage and some miscellaneous Vong-formed life. Slowly and with great care, Caedus pushed against it with his shoulder. At first, nothing happened. Then…

CLICK

With that small sound, a mechanical latch came undone and the false top gave way. The harsh sounds of battle and the glare of the sun flooded the tunnel and made Caedus wince. After taking a few moments to adjust, he climbed out and took in his surroundings.

The entrance to the tunnels was in a small rocky outcropping, just underneath the view point of the sentry post. Or, rather, just underneath the view of what _used to be_ a sentry post. Now all that remained was smoldering wreckage. Caedus surveyed the landscape, and couldn't see any large concentrations of troops in the area.

"Wonder where they all went?" He murmured to himself.

Then he turned his attention back towards the palace, and the answer became obvious. A gaping hole in the outer wall had been opened, probably by an explosion, and sounds of blaster fire could be heard even from this far out.

"Oh." He said intelligently.

Deciding he needed more information before he walked into the crossfire, Caedus opened himself up to the Force. He extended his presence towards the palace, scanning the inhabitants within. He could sense at least a hundred people inside, but the chaos and small space was confusing the actual number. Most of them were weak in the Force, most likely soldiers. Two presence, though, were different from that.

One was larger than the others, but untamed. As if the person it reflected was still learning to control their abilities in the Force. Caedus guessed that it must be a padawan then, and where there's a padawan, there's a master. Locking onto the other large presence, he focused on it and a flash of surprise hit him.

He recognized this presence.

And more importantly, it recognized him.

_Jacen!_ The voice came in his head. Caedus reflexively answered.

_Ganner?_

There was surprise, shock, and a little big of happiness at the connection on both of their sides. Caedus couldn't help but feel relieved that Ganner was alive here, that another of his mistakes could be corrected.

Suddenly, an incredible pain flooded the connection and Ganner cried out.

Just as quickly as the connection had been established, it snapped.

"Ganner?" Caedus unknowingly said aloud, "Ganner?"

There was no answer, and he couldn't sense him anymore.

"GANNER!"

END

* * *

**A/N:** I find it incredibly annoying that I've been struggling with this update for over a month and kept deleting everything I had, and then end up writing the entire chapter in the space of a day. I hate myself sometimes.

So…can't think of anything else to say about this chapter, really. Hmmm. There was something big but I just can't remember.

Hmmm.

Ah, it probably wasn't important anyway.


	5. Escape From Yuuzhan'Tar  Part 2

**Second Chance**

**Chapter 5: Escape from Yuuzhan'Taar, Part 2**

* * *

"GANNER!" Caedus bellowed.

There was no time to waste, without thinking any more Caedus leapt from his hiding place and started to run towards the palace. He could not fail Ganner, once had been more than enough.

Despite what he had always told Vergere and others, about how it was Ganner's choice to make the stand he had in the Well of the World Brain and die so they could escape, at least a small part of Caedus had felt the guilt of it and he had always tried to push it down. After all, he had been the one to bring Ganner to Yuuzhan'Taar, to force him into the position of being a prisoner. Why had he done that? Because had needed to at the time. It was that simple and it should have been easy to justify.

It had been. Too easy to justify, really.

Looking back, Caedus wondered if that should have been the first clue about the direction he was headed in. Before that point, he would never have considered sacrificing someone else so he could save himself and justified it with the fact that he was needed more than Ganner. It was a line of reasoning that would become all too common in the years that followed.

Caedus would not allow it to happen again. If he was supposed to atone for his crimes in this strange new galaxy, then he would do everything he could to save Ganner. Whatever it took.

"Stop you crazy idiot!"

The sudden return of his younger self's voice caused him to skid to a halt in surprise. He turned to the specter and glared.

"Why are you stopping me?" The ex-Sith demanded, "You want Ganner to die?"

In answer, the ghost wildly shook his head.

"No!" Jacen replied, "But you're not thinking straight! If you go in there, blasters blazing like you are, all you'll end doing is dying. Again."

Caedus growled and opened his mouth to deny it when the words penetrated to his rational mind. It was true. He had no idea what kind of situation he was about to walk into, but it was most likely a pretty fierce battle. He had almost run headfirst into battle with little protection and no allies.

Taking a deep breath, Caedus calmed himself down.

"You're right." He admitted to the specter.

Jacen smiled at him, a grateful and genuine smile, and faded away. Before he completely disappeared, Caedus heard his last plea.

"Save him this time."

Caedus smiled back.

"I will."

With his younger self gone again, Caedus immediately turned around and searched his surroundings. He needed something for protection, because fighting more Yuuzhan Vong without any armor would be just the kind of stupid recklessness he used to chide Anakin and Jaina about. It didn't take long before a slight glimmer caught his eye.

Dashing over, Caedus found himself staring at the body of a fallen GA soldier, his armor scorched and damaged but still usable. He looked into the face and grimaced.

"Sorry about this, but I think I need it more than you do right now."

As quickly and carefully as he could, Caedus removed the blackened armor from the body and strapped it onto himself. Slipping on the gloves, he clenched and unclenched his hands in experimentation. The armor would do fine. It would offer a good amount of protection but wouldn't impede his movement too much.

Turning back towards the passage entrance, he called out.

"It's all clear! Come up!"

The Heretic Warriors wasted no time in climbing up to the surface, looking around with the keen and practiced eyes he would expect of someone who had been hunted for their "crimes" for Force knew how long. The largest of them, who Caedus had assumed was the leader earlier, came closer.

"Jeedai. You were yelling earlier." It was clear that he wasn't asking for an explanation. He expected one on principle.

Caedus decided to oblige him, just this once.

"I felt some other jedi in the Force inside the Palace. There's a very large battle being fought, and I wasn't prepared for the feeling of their pain. Once I got over the shock, I decided a little more preparation was necessary.

A harsh and guttural stream of Yuuzhan Vong words escaped the Warrior's lips at that. Obviously not the news he had wanted to hear then. Caedus let him continue for a little while longer before he finally interjected.

"If you're done questioning the ancestry, species, and orientation of Shimmra's soldiers," Caedus said dryly, "I think we should get moving. We need to do this quickly before Shimmra's forces win the battle."

"You intend to aid the invaders?" The Leader sneered back, clearly unhappy with the idea.

Caedus nodded.

"At least one. A powerful jedi. He'll be a great help."

The Warrior considered this for a moment that was far too long in Caedus's opinion. He had delayed long enough as is. Ganner was good, but if what he had felt in the Force was true then he couldn't afford to waste any more time.

Luckily for him, the Warrior nodded.

"Very well, Jeedai. Let us go. Quickly."

Caedus couldn't agree more.

* * *

**Inside Shimmra's Palace**

_Jacen!_

The unexpected presence shocked the Jedi Master so much he nearly lost his footing and tripped. Ganner had seen plenty of strange things since this war began, but people who were conclusively dead for over a decade coming back to life? Yeah, that was too much for even him to believe.

And yet, he could feel the presence just as easily as he could his own apprentice's. This was real.

However, Ganner was so busy marveling at the sheer impossibility of it all that he had let his focus slip. It was lost only for a second, but in battle that was all that was needed.

Ganner and his soldiers had made it deep into the Palace before they had encountered any real resistance. In fact, they had made it all the way to Shimmra's expansive throne room when they met the real enemy. As soon as his first wave had entered the room, many of them had been cut down by thud-bugs and other long range weapons. Then a huge group of Warriors appeared out of nowhere, apparently waiting for them.

Ganner had been fighting one of the biggest Warriors he had ever seen, and every swing of that warrior's amphistaff carried the force of a blaster cannon behind it. Every block he made hurt his arms a little, so he had focused on dodging in and out of the other combatant's reach and making quick strikes. In time, the other fighter would surely go down, but Ganner had to remain focused. Even people appearing from the dead wasn't enough to completely strip him of his focus, and Ganner easily avoided another swing of the living weapon.

Unfortunately, he did not see the smaller warrior with the coufee until it was too late.

The small knife-like blade slipped in the part of his armor between the shoulder and the neck, easily slicing through the weak point in the armor and into the soft flesh beneath. Shortly after, pain blossomed out and Ganner cut off the unexpected connection as a reflex.

Ganner slammed his elbow back into the nose of his attacker and then threw himself to the side just in time to dodge another amphistaff strike from his larger opponent. One hand clenched to the back of his shoulder, he started backing away while he regained his breath.

The pain wasn't stopping, though. Instead, it felt like every nerve in his body was on fire, and the burning was worse closer and closer to the new wound. Ganner's legs buckled underneath him and his stumble backwards became a desperate slide. He knew exactly what had happened to him.

Poison. The kriffing coufee had been coated in some kind of poison! And he had let himself get distracted enough for it to happen!

Cursing himself for his own stupidity, a liability on this battlefield he just couldn't afford, Ganner still gave his attackers a weak glare as he ground his teeth in pain. As soon as he managed to block out the pain, he would make them pay for this. He swore it.

His attackers, though, just seemed amused at his defiance.

In front of him, his two opponents smiled cruelly at his predicament, unaware of the battle raging around them as they focused all their attention on their prey.

"And here I thought the Jeedai were better fighters than this." The smaller Warrior sneered.

A bellowing laugh and a wicked grin from his larger companion proclaimed his agreement.

"Perhaps this jeedai is just that weak." The larger one suggested.

The smaller let out a cackle at that, watching Ganner's face twist into an offended scowl. "I think you're right, friend. Perhaps killing him would be a favor to his fellows. Can't have such a shame to the Jeedai's myth walking around, can we?"

"No, no we can't."

The two charged, and Ganner braced himself for his next move.

He didn't get a chance, though, as someone else had decided to interfere.

"NO! Master!"

Ganner's wide eyes watched in horror as his apprentice leapt in front of him, slashing wildly at his attackers. Caught off guard, the two leapt away to avoid the lightsaber, but it only managed to drive them off for a second.

"Looks like we got one straight from the creche."

"Yes, this one should be even easier to kill."

Jorsc stood his ground, staring at them with what could only be described as sheer hatred. Growling, he answered them.

"I'll kill you for what you did to my master!"

With a guttural war cry, the young padawan lunged at them, his anger fueling him. While smaller than even the smallest of the vong, the young human looked fierce as he moved. Incredibly fast, he feinted to the right and as soon as the two reacted, he pivoted and went to the left. Before he could react, the larger of the two Vong felt the searing pain of a lightsaber hitting his arm. The wound instantly cauterized, and only his quick reaction time saved his entire arm from being severed at the bicep. No longer could Ganner find any amusement in their features, just a cold fury that promised a horrible, horrible death to the young boy. But that wasn't what concerned him the most.

Even as his physical vision blurred from the poison assaulting his system, his view of the Force was just as clear as ever. But that was not comforting him. As he watched his apprentice lock weapons with his opponents, Ganner was all too aware of how the young human felt in the Force. Usually, Jorsc was a spot of serene, if uncertain, light. The only distortions he had seen to that had been in the usual fits of childish emotion that were prevalent in boys that age.

This was different. Jorsc was instead a small but stormy spot of darkness in the Force, charged with rage and fear for his master. It was the darkest he had ever seen his apprentice, even if it wasn't yet the true dark side.

Still, the sight was horrifying to the man who had nearly raised the boy, and Ganner tried to call out to him, but found that his throat felt heavy and constricted. The venom was too strong, and he would need to push his energy into healing it.

Knowing he needed to do it, but not liking it, Ganner pushed himself into a shallow healing trance. His physical senses shut down, but he kept his Force senses going, watching the fight before him as best as he could, considering he could only sense one of the combatants.

Jorsc was currently engaged in a close duel with the larger Vong Warrior and was surprisingly holding his own. The two were a whirlwind of blades, constantly slashing and blocking, never stopping or stumbling in the terrible dance. Ganner felt proud at his apprentice's performance, and that was enough to distract him for as a few minutes passed by.

Then his muffled hearing picked up on something, and his eyes shot open. The smaller of the warriors had apparently run off, because Ganner could see he now had several more warriors at his back. Too many for Jorsc to handle.

'_No kriffing way.'_ Ganner decided, and cut his healing trance short. His body still ached in more places than he knew were in the human body, but he was fairly certain he had temporarily dulled the poison's effects. It wasn't a lot, but it would let him fight.

"Jorsc!" He called out to the boy. Feeling his intentions in the Force, his apprentice nodded and ducked to the side, just as Ganner's ignited lightsaber was thrown over his head and into the larger warrior. Said warrior let out a scream before falling to the ground, dead.

"Master, you shouldn't be fighting." Jorsc protested as Ganner hobbled over to him, catching his returning lightsaber clumsily.

Ganner shook his head. "Kid, last I checked, I was the one giving orders. And you're still a little young to take on things like…"

Jorsc didn't have time to react. One moment his Master had been in front of him, and the next he was standing behind his back and he heard the signature hum of his lightsaber. Looking back, he saw several thud-bugs, now cut in half land on the floor in a heap.

"Like that." Ganner finished.

"Show off." Jorsc muttered. Ganner chuckled.

"Infidels!" Another voice interrupted. Ganner turned his half-focused eyes towards the source to find the smaller of the first two Warriors, now with a very large group of reinforcements standing behind him. In every direction around the two Jedi stood another warrior, and from what little Ganner could make out beyond their shapes, the battle for the rest of his troops was going poorly.

It was only now that he understood just how badly he had been played. Shimmra must have been expecting them and set a trap. The ground invasion had been too easy, and resistance spread too thin. That sick bastard Shimmra must have wanted them to come here, to the palace, just so they could die where he could see it. In any other situation he would have caught on immediately but Ganner had been so caught up in the emotions of the moment that he hadn't caught it.

He could only pray that it wouldn't be his last mistake.

"Keep your guard up, Jorsc." Ganner whispered. "We're too outnumbered to charge them just yet."

"Yes, Master." Jorsc agreed, although Ganner could tell from the tone of his voice that he wasn't happy with the order.

The leading Vong stepped forward.

"You infidels don't even realize how badly you've failed. Our glorious Supreme Overlord is not here, Jeedai scum! This planet, and all on it, have been tainted by the Gods' punishment, and we shall be a sacrifice to regain the Gods favor!" He explained reverently, as if he were preaching a holy message. "Join us on the altar, Jeedai!"

That was all the signal the other Vong needed, and soon they all closed rank and attacked the Jedi standing back to back. The two did their best to fight back, throwing as many of them away as they could, but it was clear that they could not hold them off for long.

The leader, the small and crafty Vong that had stabbed him in the first place, came hurtling towards him from the left. Ganner tried to spin around to face him, but the poison had made him sluggish. He did manage to slam his forearm into the Vong's coufee arm and pin it against the nearest wall, though.

"Heh. Not very good at this when you're not stabbing someone in the back, are you?" Ganner mocked.

The Vong hissed in laughter, and reached into his voudon crab armor with his other arm and pulled out another coufee.

"And you are far too overconfident, Jeedai." He growled as the blade stabbed forward.

And just as it seemed hopeless, Ganner saw the one thing he never expected: an amphistaff came out of nowhere and plunged into the neck of his opponent.

The rest of his attackers looked over to see what had happened, and then snarled. Ganner watched as a small group of new Warriors, wearing disfigured vodoun crab armor and surprisingly scar free, which marked them as Shamed Ones. Ganner had never seen Shamed Ones big and intimidating enough to look like Warriors, but here they were. Then again, the Vong weren't what he was focusing on.

In front of them stood a shocking and slightly scary sight. Garbed in black armor, a fierce glare, and holding a crimson lightsaber was Jacen Solo. A Jacen Solo with sickly yellow eyes that glared darkly at the other Vong.

"Heretics and Jeedai! The Supreme Overlord should have ignored the treacherous priest's advice and killed every last one of you!" Spit one of the loyal warriors.

The heretics sneered in response. "Silence, blind one. The Prophet would not let that happen."

"Enough talk!" Caedus barked, "Get them!"

The Heretics descended on their counterparts with an animalistic fury, and Caedus cut one or two down himself as he reached Ganner and his apprentice. He dropped down to his knees and grabbed Ganner by the shoulders.

"You ok?" He asked gently. Ganner was a little confused at this. When had he and Jacen ever been close? Why the concern?

Another jolt of pain reminded him that this really wasn't the time to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"P-poison." He gasped. "Hurts."

Caedus nodded, his expression serious and turned questioningly to the younger jedi.

"I'm fine." Jorsc said, then winced, "Just kind of sore."

Caedus considered this and looked back in the direction of the heretics. From the looks of things, they were winning for now, but he couldn't tell how long that would last. There were just too many Vong here for them to fight and drive them all off. There was only one option.

"We need to get out of here." He told Ganner, then grabbed him by one arm and slung him half over his shoulder. "Kid, I need you to try and keep up, can you do that?"

Jorsc nodded hesitantly and pulled himself up.

"Get to the Hangar!" Caedus yelled to the heretics. Pausing in their fights, they all signaled in one way or another that they had heard him. Caedus decided that was good enough and ran towards the door he knew would lead to the hangar.

Sounds of heavy footfalls, growing quicker and closer with every step he took, followed quickly. A quick reaching out with his Vong-sense confirmed that it was, mostly, the Heretics who had come with him that were behind him, doing their best to keep up.

Crossing the room and reaching the door to the hangar was surprisingly easy, even with an almost unconscious Ganner flung over his shoulder. Once they opened the door, Caedus stared at the hangar.

As could be expected, most of the ships were gone, to be used in the battle above. Only about five or so remained, and there was only one large enough to fit their needs. A medium-sized freighter-style Yuuzhan Vong ship sat on the far left side of the hangar with its equivalent of landing gear down and the loading door left wide open. For what reason, Caedus couldn't guess at, but he knew he didn't have time to question good luck.

"There!" He ordered the heretics, "The big one on the left!"

Before they could take off towards the ship, all of them froze as they heard the overwhelming noise of pursuit. It was impossible to tell from the overlapping noise, but at least a hundred of Shimmra's warriors had to have been following them judging by how deafening it was. Caedus felt his spirit slip and clenched his lightsaber.

"We won't make it to the ship in time." One of the heretics realized.

"Not all of us anyway." Jorsc said. The others turned to him, surprised. They had almost forgotten the young boy was there. "Unless someone covers the exit."

Despite being in the state he was, Ganner knew his apprentice, and figured out his plan immediately. "N-no! Y…you-"

That was enough for Caedus to figure it out as well. He glared at the boy.

"You're not going to stay behind. If anyone does that, it will be me."

Jorsc shook his head. "No. I can't explain it but… I just have this…_feeling_ that you and my master will be needed soon. And we need someone to hold them back."

"And you think a single padawan is enough?" Caedus asked incredulously.

"The Jeedai has a point." The leader of the heretics interrupted. "One cannot stand alone against all of them and delay them enough."

Caedus nodded. "Yes, exa-"

"Which is why I shall stay with you, young Jeedai." The leader finished. When Caedus gazed angrily at him as well and opened his mouth to protest, the heretic cut him off. "We did not expect that we would all survive, Jeedai. As long as you get my warriors back to the Prophet, we will be fine."

Caedus' lips thinned but from the sounds coming towards the door, he knew they had wasted enough time.

"Fine. I will tell Vergere of your sacrifice."

"Like kriffing-" Ganner's protest came to a sudden end as the hilt of a lightsaber smashed into his temple. Caedus just looked at Jorsc.

"You have no idea how many times I've wanted to do that all these years." Jorsc said with a smile. "Now get the hell out of here."

Caedus sighed and turned around, taking the rest of the warriors with him. They ran for the ship.

Jorsc turned to the heretic beside him as he ignited his lightsaber and braced himself for battle. The heretic unfurled his amphistaff and never took his eyes off the door.

"What's your name anyway? I'd kind of like to know the name of the person I'm dying with."

"You may call me Yuusung Saa, Jeedai." The heretic said, just as the door opened. "Not that you shall ever have the chance to use it."

Jorsc smirked. "Maybe not. But at least we know one thing."

Two warriors, from wildly different cultures stared down their enemies and declared as one.

"None shall pass."

And Ganner's apprentice threw himself into battle, unknowingly prepared to live up to his Master's legacy. Sort of.

* * *

**Aboard the Stolen Ship**

Caedus had dropped Ganner in one of the crew quarters on the ship and was now standing on the bridge as the heretic warriors manned their stations and were starting up the ship. Even Caedus, who had spent so much time with the Vong, still didn't fully understand the mechanics of their living ships. Still, he was prepared to try and use his trademark abilities with animals to try and get the villip to work with them.

Luckily, that didn't look like it would be necessary as he felt the ship shake.

"We'll need a door." Caedus said.

Across the bridge, a heretic smirked.

"Yaret-kor active. Making an exit, Jeedai."

Two blasts, one after the other, made the ship tremble as the volcano cannons did their terrible work.

"The way is clear, Jeedai."

Caedus felt a huge flash of relief.

"Then what are we waiting for? Go!" He ordered.

Immediately, the ship surged forward, out of the ruined hangar and into the air outside.

"Stay low, we don't need to attract the attention of either of the fleets." The ex-Sith cautioned.

For several minutes, the ship flew more or less flawlessly towards their destination. Caedus allowed himself to relax.

Big mistake.

Something crashed into the hull of the ship, and the living ship groaned in pain as the people within were knocked off their feet. The lighted sections of the wall flickered and the villip looked as if it was in a seizure. The heretics on the bridge were a fury of activity as they tried to ascertain the damage.

"Report!"

"A squadron of GA starfighters! They must have spotted us and assumed we are one of Shimmra's! The dovin basals are damaged, Jeedai, and the hull was heavily damaged. There's nothing we can do."

The Yuuzhan Vong looked back at the rapidly falling face of Caedus.

"We will crash just outside the rendezvous point. Then soldiers will come for us, and they will likely find the others as well."

* * *

**Above Coruscant**

On the other side of the planet, just outside the range of most of the invasion fleet, a ship emerged from Hyperspace. As ships go, it was hardly memorable. A beat up freighter, barely armed and with no identifying markings. It looked anything but important.

Of course, it wasn't the ship that was important, but who it was carrying.

Inside the ship, Anakin Solo reached out with the Force to try and find the person he was looking for. It had not taken long to find it, her, and a relieved smile came to his face. She was alive after all, and his vision had not lied to him.

The smile vanished when he brushed against another even more familiar presence.

Questions filled his mind. How? Why? He had been sure that Jacen was dead, completely certain.

'_You said that about Tahiri too.'_ A small voice in him whispered, _'Why would Jacen be any different?'_

Ok, creepy logical inner voice that sounded far too much like his mother was right.

The hows and whys could wait. From the emotions he had picked up, it seemed like Jacen was in trouble.

He didn't turn when his unwanted partner came rushing into the cockpit.

"I felt-" She started, but Anakin cut her off.

"I know." He leaned into the controls, pushing the ship down into the gravity well. "It looks like Jacen could use some help." A grin split his face at those words.

Behind him, a matching if much smaller smile had grown on his passenger's face. Her single hand reached up to her red locks and unconsciously played with them as her grey eyes lit up with happiness.

"This is a fact."

END

* * *

**A/N:** Wow, I actually wrote that in far less time than I expected. Go me. Not entirely happy with it, especially the scenes with Ganner, but I was having more fun with this than usual for some reason, regardless.

I have also realized that I somehow put "Luminara" instead of "Lumiya" in the last chapter. How stupid can I get, eh?

That's really all I have to say.

-Jord839


	6. Escape from Yuuzhan'Tar Finale

**Second Chance**

**Chapter 6: Escape from Yuuzhan'Tar: Finale**

* * *

They say you can get used to anywhere with enough time.

Tahiri Veila disagreed. Violently.

She had been trapped in this sunless void for over a decade now and each day she hated it more. She hated the way light and sound fled from this place, swallowed by the void that surrounded her on all sides. She hated the cold that blanketed everything around her and bit at her bare feet. She hated how everything in this place was just another cruel little test to break her down.

Most of all, she hated that it had been working.

For so many seemingly endless ages she had wandered this emptiness, looking for her enemy. It never worked though. There were no land marks or tracks or loose sounds to track here. Eventually, even she had felt hopeless.

Until now.

The details were sketchy to her, but Tahiri knew that her enemy had gotten into a fight that was just too much for her. Her prison had quaked and screamed in silent pain before the darkness had shattered and Tahiri set eyes on the real world again. The pain of suffocation had been terrible, but it hadn't mattered to her. Tahiri had poured all her focus on finding _him_. Anakin. When she touched his presence through the force, a flood of warmth had filled her.

Anakin was _alive_. And he was coming for her. That was the only hope she needed.

"Come out!" Tahiri demanded of her captor. "Face me!"

Silence was the only thing that answered her, as usual.

"You afraid of me, Riina?" Tahiri cried mockingly. "That's it, isn't it? The big bad Vong's afraid of the little girl." She threw her head back and laughed.

"You presume much, Jeedai lie."

Tahiri didn't react as the lithe form, her form, dropped from above and her twisted mirror image sneered at her. The face was criss-crossed with deep scars and the familiar eyes glowed with malice and hatred to match the expression on her face. Tahiri suspected that her own expression probably matched exactly, but she couldn't bring herself to care. She just wanted this… thing dead and out of her mind whatever the cost.

The two blondes circled each other warily, staring hard. Neither was willing to show weakness now, at such a crucial moment.

"_I'm_ the lie?" Tahiri parroted, "Last I checked, I was in this body years before you were even the twinkle in Kwaad's eyes."

"The false Jeedai memories of yours mean nothing to me anymore." Riina shot back. "I have regained my body for over a decade and served the Gods well. I will never go back to being a Jeedai puppet."

"Then there's only one way to settle this."

The signature snap-hiss of two lightsabers was drowned out by the speed and fury with which their wielders lunged at one another. Tahiri crossed the distance first and struck. Riina was quick to react and the dark room soon flashed with sparks as their lightsabers collided. Blue pushed back against blue, casting the combatants' faces in an alien light. Tahiri suddenly pulled back from the locked blades and spun on the balls of her feet into a roundhouse kick aimed at the back of her counterpart's head.

But again, Riina sensed her intentions and executed a rolling flip away from Tahiri's incoming attack and over her still extended lightsaber. It didn't buy the vong-like human much time, though, as the moment she landed Riina had to raise her own blade again and defend against Tahiri's renewed assault.

Back and forth the two blondes traded vicious strikes and parries. There was no time for breaks and breathers here. Every testing blow demanded an immediate answer and every block needed to be completely perfect.

Unfortunately for Riina one, just one, of hers was not.

Riina was an incredible fighter, yes, but she couldn't match the determination of fervor that filled Tahiri's every strike. Riina was powered by her desire for control. Tahiri, ever since her brief sojourn in the real world, was fueled by something infinitely stronger. That is why Riina's one feeble block cost her, and Tahiri shattered her opponent's guard.

Tahiri watched with cold eyes as her opponent crashed into the ground, a deep furrow of burnt flesh marring her arm. Riina hissed and held back the scream bubbling up from her lungs, and then she felt the slight singe of Tahiri's lightsaber hovering near her neck.

"I told you. You can't win, Riina. Not this time."

Whatever Tahiri was expecting the reaction to this statement would be this was not it. As soon as she finished speaking, her enemy had started sniggering at her.

"What's so funny?" The Jedi snapped, tired of this.

Riina grinned with dark amusement.

"You don't get it." She began, "You don't understand just what all this is. You can't _win_ here, dear Tahiri."

It was at this moment that Tahiri felt it. Sheer, mind-bending pain from her left arm and the smell of burnt flesh. Shocked, she looked down at the source to see a wound matching Riina's rapidly spreading across the arm. Wide blue eyes turned to meet their mirror counterparts then to Riina's arm, which was suddenly healing.

"What?" Tahiri gasped, stumbling back with the pain.

Riina, no longer being guarded by the ready blade, rose to her own feet and advanced on the Jedi. Slowly she advanced, but with an air of menace and dark promise. When she next spoke, it was quiet, but spoken with certainty. Like a predator stalking its wounded prey.

"You and I are connected, Jeedai, as much as that disgusts me. Two sides of the same credit, as your infidel saying goes. You hide yourself behind your false reassurances of 'peace' and 'tranquility' or 'love'." Each of those concepts was spit like it was a particularly vile tasting concoction.

Riina paused for a moment before continuing.

"Me though? I'm the _real_ version. You're just the false safeguards put in by the Jeedai to keep me contained, and even at that you fail. Every time you lose yourself and abandon your grand ideals, I get stronger. All these years here have fed your hatred, have fed _me._"

Tahiri stared at her opponent as realization dawned. Riina wasn't just the incarnation of the shaper-implanted memories; she was something much more dangerous.

Riina leaned in to her and whispered against her ear. "Do you understand now, Jeedai? You're the one who can't win this. Just surrender. I'm inevitable."

For the briefest of moments, Tahiri actually thought about it. Hopelessness and fear getting the better of her. But then she remembered why she was fighting, and her eyes narrowed.

No.

With a roar, she lashed out with lightsaber, slashing across Riina's face. The dark version of her screamed in pain and fell back, clutching her face and glaring at her through the fingers. Despite the pain in her arm, Tahiri stood.

"You want out of here so much?" Riina hissed, "Fine. Go out to your Jeedai, and your lies, but do it while knowing this. I am not gone. I _will_ come back, and when I do, I'll take your lovely little life and rip it to shred with our own bare hands."

A sudden howl filled the area and a terrible wind began to blow. Tahiri watched as pieces of the blackness began to fall out of her view and her mindscape began to fade from her vision. Just as she left the last the place though, she heard one last threat.

"Little Anakin might even look good once I add enough scars…"

And then she woke up.

* * *

**Wreckage, 2 Kilometers from Rendezvous Point**

Caedus groaned to himself as he pushed himself up from the floor. He had to blink several times for his eyes to readjust, and once they did he almost wished they hadn't.

The crash and the attack had horribly damaged the ship, probably making it un-flyable. More importantly, the crash had probably brought the attention of every ship in a twenty kilometer radius. And they were still a ways off from the rendezvous point.

"Is everyone still alive?" Caedus called.

Groans of pain and Vong curses answered him, but it seemed that everyone had survived. Casting a quick look down, Caedus confirmed that Ganner, too, was still in good condition. Well, as "good" of a condition as he was in before anyway.

The result was pure luck, but he knew better than anyone that this kind of luck wouldn't hold out for long.

With every ship in the vicinity on its way to investigate, they needed to leave. Now.

"Get up." He ordered the Heretic Warriors, "We need to get moving if we want to escape."

One of the Warriors, a younger one, piped up, his voice filled with a mixture of scorn and withheld pain. "I don't know if you noticed, Jeedai, but our mission is a failure! We can't escape like this."

Caedus' fingers twitched, and almost reflexively he stood up straighter to intimidate the insubordinate fool that tried to argue with orders. Halfway through the motion he realized what he was about to do and stopped himself. The Vong had a point.

"Maybe so." He conceded, "But if we don't leave now then the GA or Shimmra's forces will be here to deal with us. We don't have time if we want to get out of here alive."

And just then, punctuating his statement, Yuuzhan'Tar itself shuddered again, more fiercely than ever before. The already damaged ship trembled as the earth beneath it gave way, and for a brief moment the ship just lurched.

Straight down.

The sudden drop and stop knocked the hijackers back off their feet. When Caedus picked himself up, he stared down at the earlier speaker. The Vong stared back, but all that time as a Sith lord meant that Caedus could pick out even the slightest hints of fear. Right now, the young Heretic was practically glowing with it.

"As I was saying, if you want even the slightest chance to survive, we need to leave. Now. We need to retreat and regroup, and we won't be able to do that here. Understand?" He said dourly.

A hesitant nod.

Grunting his dismissal, Caedus turned back to the collapsed form of Ganner.

"I'm going to have to give you a hard time about this later." He said softly as he pulled the Jedi up onto his shoulder. "Sleeping through a battle? Reminds me of that old joke I used to tell Tenel Ka…"

Ganner, still unconscious, winced in pain.

Caedus shot him a look. "Everyone's a critic." He muttered to himself under his breath.

That deed done, he turned back to the Vong and motioned for them to follow. Navigating the damaged ship wasn't as difficult as he'd anticipated, thankfully. Only a few corridors were blocked, and those were easy enough to bypass with the right motivation. Despite the constantly worsening tremors that they felt through the ship's hull, Caedus began to feel a little optimism.

Then, after a delicate cutting operation with his lightsaber, he saw the surface.

"Emperor's Black Bones…" He gasped.

* * *

**Orbit Above Coruscant**

Ben Skywalker was used to his Master's unpredictable streak. Years of missions suddenly going awry and being forced to do all sorts of unpleasant things from crawling through sewers to cross-dressing (Do. Not. Ask.) had more or less made him immune to the "adventurous streak" that his Master so wholeheartedly embraced.

However, that did not mean he had to like it at all.

Case in point, right about now.

"You're completely insane, Master!" The young redhead growled over the comm. as he let loose another laser bolt from the turret. In the distance, he watched as another Coral-skipper exploded into a fiery ball of plasma.

"You should not disrespect your master so, Padawan." Came the carefully controlled voice of their guest, Tenel Ka. Seconds later, another shot lanced out from her turret. Ben couldn't help but admire the aim as it scattered a pursuing squadron of coral-skippers.

"Oh, my apologies, Master." Ben replied sarcastically. "I shall endeavor to be more supportive the next time my oh-so-brilliant Master flies into the middle of a war-zone with a barely functional freighter we requisitioned from a scrap yard."

A crackle, and then Anakin's amused voice answered. "I'll have you know that Jaina agreed this ship was in tip-top condition, Padawan."

Despite himself, Ben let a grin take over. "Well, I suppose Uncle Han _is_ the one who taught you both these things. Can't blame you for that hole in your education."

Seconds later, he was rewarded with a bark of laughter from his Master. "You are way too much like your mother, Ben."

Ben opened his mouth to give another retort when he finally looked down onto the planet below.

Master…" he breathed, "Do you…?"

Anakin's voice was now completely devoid of humor. "Yes, Ben, I see it."

The ship had only just entered the atmosphere, but they could see the ground below in perfect clarity. In several places, the ground itself was tearing open in chasms, and if Ben was seeing things correctly, magma and strange gas clouds were beginning to leak out.

Even with all this turmoil, the battle for Yuuzhan'Taar hadn't even paused. Squadrons of X-Wings and Coral-skippers traded blasts and on the ground, and artillery blasts pummeled ground troops, who still trudged through the chaos.

Coruscant was Hell.

For a few more seconds, there was nothing but silence. Then Tenel Ka spoke up.

"We must hurry." She declared.

Ben was struck by how, despite her normally calm tone, there was a strong sense of fear and worry flowing off of her through the Force. A feeling that his Master mirrored with the same intensity.

"Don't worry, Tenel." Anakin assured her, his voice steely with determination. "We're not leaving them to deal with this."

Ben didn't even have time to question what exactly was going on, because his Master pulled the throttle and soon the ship was speeding down the gravity well with everything it had.

If they weren't so focused on their descent, the Jedi might have noticed the ships close on their trail.

* * *

**Yuuzhan'Taar, Heretic Rendezvous**

When Tahiri opened her eyes, she realized two things immediately. The first was that she had won, and that this was her chance to escape.

The second was that there was an amphistaff barely inches from her neck.

"So you are awake." A strangely musical voice said.

Tahiri carefully maneuvered herself to turn and look at the speaker without provoking the living weapon to take a bite out of her neck.

Holding the amphistaff was a being that she had never seen in person, but knew through reports. The avian features, Yuuzhan vong dress, and distinctive voice all came together perfectly.

"Vergere."

The elderly former Jedi did not respond, merely stared at her through narrowed eyes.

"And who am I speaking to?" Vergere finally said, "The Jedi, Tahiri Veila, or the famed Hand of Shimmra Riina Kwaad?"

Tahiri's eyes widened and then she snarled. "Don't say that name." She spat.

Vergere's eyes, if possible, narrowed even further. "Jedi Veila, then." She conceded, "Yet I still sense the corruption in you. Interesting."

Apparently, this was enough proof for the Fosh to withdraw the weapon from her neck. But Tahiri didn't feel comforted. Vergere was still watching her with interested eyes, staring into her soul. She shivered and averted her eyes away.

Unfortunately, the other sights weren't any more comforting. She saw hundreds of ragged Yuuzhan Vong, in various stages of panicking. Even in the dark light of the tunnels she could make out the individual faces twisted in fear and desperation as they scurried about. And she could see bits of the walls and ceilings crumbling away as the earth shook.

She turned back to Vergere.

"What-?"

"Now is not the time for explanations, Jedi Veila." Vergere cut her off. "I had hoped your friend Solo would have come through on his end of the agreement, but we cannot afford to wait any longer. We must leave now."

It took Tahiri a couple moments to figure out what Vergere was referring to before she remembered. Those few seconds when she had been conscious before, she had seen his face. Jacen's normally kind smile, so much like Anakin's, twisted into a malicious smirk as he electrocuted her from the inside out.

But Vergere had referred to him as her friend. Jacen must have snapped out of…whatever was going on with him.

In the end, Tahiri decided it didn't matter. Now wasn't the time for questions and explanations, like Vergere had said. Now was the time for action.

"What do you need from me?" She asked Vergere.

The other Jedi stayed silent for a moment, eyeing her in measurement, then, "We must go to the surface. I sense our chances are best there."

Tahiri just nodded.

"Take this, then, Jedi Veila. Your lightsaber was damaged beyond repair."

And with that, Verger tossed the still unfurled amphistaff at her, which Tahiri caught deftly.

"One more thing, Veila."

Tahiri paused, turning to the other Jedi.

"Keep yourself open to the Force. I sense that will help us."

Tahiri did as told, even though she didn't see the point.

Ten seconds later, a smile lit her face as bright as the sun and she understood.

Caedus would never admit it, but he was privately amazed.

He hadn't expected to make it half a kilometer before someone caught up with them, but somehow they'd managed to make it almost the entire path to the rendezvous point without any notable resistance. Sure, there had been some scattered Vong resistors, but they were quickly dispatched without too much trouble. To be on the safe side, he had withdrawn from the Force in favor of using his Vongsense, hoping to keep any hostile Jedi off his tail and see any of Shimmra's ambushes coming. But even that was proving unnecessary.

Now, they had made it.

Just over the ridge was the entrance to the tunnels that were the rendezvous point. He didn't need his Vongsense to feel the relief that the Heretic Warriors experienced as they saw their fellows emerge from their hiding places.

Well, _they_ felt relieved anyway. Caedus personally felt annoyed.

Letting his troops go, and dropping Ganner with the shapers, Caedus had discovered to his displeasure that Tahiri was out and about the camp on Vergere's orders. Angry, he searched for and quickly found the person he was looking for. Vergere was standing off to the side of the groups, looking up into the sky. Caedus approached.

"What do you think you're doing?" He hissed, "You were all supposed to stay underground until we returned with the ship!"

Vergere coolly regarded him before replying, "Seeing as you did not return with the ship, the point is moot, isn't it Jacen Solo?"

Caedus wanted to reply, to shoot back something that would refute her, but he knew there was nothing. It was true, after all. He had failed in his half of the mission, and now they were more than likely doomed along with the rest of Yuuzhan'Taar. Vergere had no obligations to hide if that was the case, did she?

Not for the first time since he had met her in this strange new version of his own galaxy, Caedus was reminded of just how much like a petulant child Vergere made him feel. It was not a pleasant feeling.

"Be that as it may, Tahiri should still be lying down! Not to mention, we'll be discovered if we stay out here."

"Exactly my point, Jacen Solo. Exactly my point."

Caedus didn't need any more hints than that. Just as he switched over to the Force from Vongsense, the roar of engines reached him. He didn't need to look, he could already tell who was coming.

A mixture of dread and anticipation filled him. He hadn't seen Anakin, the real Anakin, in so many years. The prospect of seeing him now, face to face, was powerful.

And so was the fear of Anakin's reaction when he finally saw what his older brother had become.

Dozens of scenarios of what could happen flew through his head as the freighter touched down several meters away. Some were negative, others were positive. But in the end, none of that mattered.

Because he finally took notice of the other familiar presence on that ship. And he froze.

Seconds crawled by as the landing ramp descended, and a figure walked down. He was taller than Caedus remembered, the once boyish face now straight and defined, devoid of baby fat. But despite the minor changes of age, he was so familiar. Anakin had the same bright eyes, wide smile, and confident stance that Caedus remembered.

No sooner did Anakin reach the end of the ramp, when a certain blonde Jedi practically tackled him, throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him close.

"Anakin." She mumbled into his shoulder.

"Ri." He answered tenderly, "You have no idea how much I've missed you all this time."

Tahiri beamed at him for that and tightened her grip. The message was clear: she wasn't letting him go again.

They stood like that for a few more moments, just basking in each other's presence for the first time in years. Caedus just watched from the sidelines, eyes nervously darting back to the ramp.

He didn't need to wait much longer, though. A new figure walked down the ramp, gracefully and slowly. Tenel Ka met his eyes, never breaking eye contact as she approached.

"Jacen."

"Tenel Ka."

The two trailed off after that. Standing so close, but unsure of what to do. Tenel Ka nervously started toying with her hair braid as she stared into the eyes of her long dead friend while Caedus stood stiff as he wondered how to react to the love of his life.

Neither knew what to do.

A familiar young voice filled Caedus' head. _"Oh for… Get on with it!"_

Well who was he to argue?

Without any more thought, Caedus reached out and pulled her in, kissing her deeply. She stiffened in shock, but quickly relaxed and reciprocated. A lifetime had passed since the last time they had kissed, and both had waited forever for the next opportunity, even if they hadn't admitted it. It was a perfect moment for them.

"We are wasting time."

And then Vergere ruined it.

Clamping down on the feeling of irritation that welled up, Caedus pulled back. Giving an apologetic look at Tenel, he turned to Anakin.

"She's right. There will be time for reunions and explanations later. We need to get off the planet as soon as possible."

Anakin nodded without hesitation. "Alright." Then he turned to look at the hundreds of refugees sitting out and watching the scene. His eyes widened.

"This… is going to be a tight fit. Ben!" He called back to the ship, "Open up as much of the cargo bay as you can! Jettison any nonessential cargo if you have to!"

"Yes, Master!" Came the quick reply.

Caedus started. He had been so focused on Anakin and Tenel that he hadn't even realized Ben was there. There was a brief moment when he remembered his own apprentice, the disaster that had been, before he pushed it aside. Like everything else, there was a time and a place for that sort of thing, and this wasn't it.

Suddenly there was a firm grip on his arm, and Caedus turned to look into the steely gray eyes of Tenel Ka.

"Many things trouble you, Jacen." She stated. "You will explain later."

Caedus hesitantly nodded, knowing there was no way to get out of it. Satisfied, Tenel Ka stepped away to help Anakin and Tahiri lead the heretic refugees onto the ship.

Caedus looked to the sky. "Now comes the hard part." He sighed.

Eventually, the Jedi had herded the Vong onto the ship and began the take-off. Caedus almost found it anticlimactic, that everything had worked out just fine, but as the ship pulled into hyperspace, he put it out of his mind.

* * *

**Bridge of the **_**Ithor**_**, Above Yuuzhan'Taar**

An otherwise unimportant ensign approached the head of the bridge and the viewport. Or, more specifically, the man standing there looking at the planet below.

"Sir, the planet is too unstable. Ground commanders have requested the order to retreat." He paused. "Coruscant is lost."

His superior officer sighed. "Such a waste."

"Sir?"

Unclasping his hands, the Grand Master of the loyal Jedi Order motioned at the planet below. "That. Coruscant used to be the crown jewel of the New Republic, and now it's a dead world. More than that, we just wasted thousands of lives for a slag of now worthless rock."

Another tired sigh. "I hate politics."

The ensign waited for a few more seconds. "Sir? Your orders?"

The Grand Master turned to him, the light from the atmosphere illuminating his face just a little. "Order the pull-out, ensign. We've wasted enough lives here."

The ensign nodded and turned to walk away, before stopping.

"Sir. There is…one more thing."

The Grand Master raised an eyebrow in question.

"Some of our scouts reported the arrival of a non-Alliance starship inside the battle."

There was no response.

"The ship matched the one in our records owned by Anakin Solo of the traitor Jedi."

The response was immediate.

"I trust they were followed?"

"Yes sir. The Scouts followed from a safe distance and observed without being spotted. The reports are what's surprising, though. It seems that Jedi Solo picked up a group of Vong on the surface."

Silence. Then…

"Order the scouts to follow their last known coordinates. We have no idea why the Pacifists are recruiting Vong, and we can't afford to be caught off guard." The ensign looked shocked.

"Do you really think they're planning something against us, sir? "

Kyle Katarn, Grand Master of the Jedi Order, stared out into the Galaxy.

"A lot has changed since the old days. I don't know what to think anymore."

END

* * *

**A/N:** No real excuse for how late this one is. Just got lazy and couldn't find the motivation to finish it. Still not happy, but I figured anyone still reading this would want something by now.

By the way, current Jaina vote (on all sites total) has Jag out in front followed shortly after by Zekk, with Kyp trailing at third. That shouldn't come into focus for a little while, so you all still have time to vote if you have a preference.


End file.
